Hanusia's Blog

What I got from the Sephora holiday savings event (vegan + cruelty-free affordable gift ideas)

Ho, ho, ho, ’tis the season for retailers to bombard us with near-constant sales! It’s absolutely exhausting, but it also gives us consumers a chance to score some major deals, including on brands that are rarely discounted.

This Black Friday, I exercised uncharacteristic restraint in the beauty department (though I sadly can’t say the same for…other categories of spending). Why? Because, my friends, I knew that this annual sale from Sephora was coming very soon. And now it’s here (until next Wednesday, Dec. 9)!

In years past, the deal was X dollars off a $50 purchase; recently, the minimum spend has increased to $75, which is a bit of a bummer but seems to be about on par for the way everything at Sephora is going these days. Because I’m just a lowly Beauty Insider, my discount (and yours, if you have or get a Beauty Insider account [it’s free!]) was $15 off of $75 with the code 2020SAVE. Assuming you put exactly $75 worth of products in your cart, that’s a 20% discount. Definitely not as steep as some other sites were offering on Black Friday, but for Sephora, that’s about the best a Beauty Insider can get — the few other discounts throughout the year are usually 10% or maybe 15% off, at most. And you can combine that with the seasonally inflated cash-back percentages from Rakuten (formerly Ebates) to sweeten the deal. (BTW, if you don’t have Rakuten yet, sign up now and thank me later! If you sign up through this link we both get $20 cash back the first time you use it — pretty cool.)

The first two products on this list, I was planning to purchase from other sources last weekend because they were more deeply discounted. But in both cases, I’d have to add items to spend $50 and unlock free shipping. Obviously, paying for shipping was just not an option — especially on this, the holiest of shopping holidays. So I was poised to drop over $100 on a bunch of things that I would have enjoyed, I’m sure, but they weren’t what I was really after, and I am trying to be more mindful in my consumption habits this year (though these delightful holiday sets make it HARD, as you’ll see below). So instead, I waited for this Sephora sale to combine my most coveted items in a single $15-off purchase — with free shipping to boot.

As someone who avidly seeks out vegan and cruelty-free beauty products, I think any of these items would make great gifts for a similarly environmentally-inclined beauty lover (or any beauty lover, honestly) on your gift list. Let’s get to it!

Herbivore Cloud Nine 5 Piece Favorites Collection

$54 $43.20

Herbivore is one of those lines whose branding realllly draws me in. It strikes the surprisingly difficult perfect balance between the eco-friendly, plant-based nature I always love and the genuinely chic and sleek aesthetic I have come to appreciate. This set combines a product I’ve used and enjoyed before (the Blue Tansy Mask, from this very affordable mini-set) with several I have been jonesing to try (the Pink Cloud Cleanser and Lapis Oil). The other two products — an AHA + BHA exfoliating serum and a luxe body scrub — are things that I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to buy, but I will certainly use and hopefully enjoy them. The cleanser is full-sized and $34 on its own, so at full price, this set gives you 4 decent-sized minis of pretty fancy products for an extra $20. Even better, the set is currently on sale at Sephora for only $43.20! If you, like me, are intrigued by Herbivore, this is a great way to try several of their products without breaking the bank. And if you’re looking for a gift for a skincare lover in your life, I think this would really do the trick.

Bite Beauty Creamy Matte Lip Crayon in Pavlova

$24

Photo source: Bite Beauty. And, okay, *technically* the full name of this product is “Power Move Creamy Matte Lip Crayon,” but that just feels way too long to write in a header.

Bite Beauty was my first introduction to higher-end (as in, anything not from the drugstore) lip products, back in high school when I was a zitty teen obsessed with YouTube beauty gurus. Now a zitty adult, I’ve sadly had to throw those six-plus-year-old lipsticks away, but my love for Bite’s makeup remains. In fact, it’s increased exponentially, as a couple years ago Bite announced they were reformulating their whole line to be vegan (it had previously included animal derivatives like beeswax and carmine). To my knowledge, this move was pretty unprecedented in the beauty industry at that time, and it definitely impressed me — even if it was informed less by morals than by increasing consumer demand for vegan products (there are dozens of us!).

Anyway, all this is to say that I purchased a freshly-vegan lip crayon in this very shade from Bite last winter, only to lose it after a few weeks. I know, I know, an American tragedy! A full year later, it still hasn’t resurfaced, so I have accepted its loss and cheerfully bought its replacement. This shade, Pavlova, is a yummy bright-but-not-too-bold pinkish berry. It’s perfect for when you want to wear something like a red lip, but not exactly red, and it’s a great shade for winter in my humble opinion. I look forward to welcoming Pavlova back into my home very soon. Bite also has some great mini sets for the holidays — this one is on sale at Sephora for only $12.50.

Sephora Favorites POP Set

$15

Full disclosure: I picked up this mini set because it was the closest I could get to achieving the $75 coupon threshold without going too far over, while containing something I actually wanted to buy. That something would be the Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector, a beauty industry staple. I’m planning to bleach & dye my hair in a couple weeks (!!), so I wanted to try out a smaller size of Olaplex since it’s supposed to be a miracle worker for bleached or otherwise damaged hair. We’ll see how it goes!

The rest of this set, though, is not too shabby either. I’m curious to try the primer and liquid lipstick minis from Rare Beauty and Melt Cosmetics, respectively, neither of which are brands I’ve tried before. I’m sure I’ll use or (more likely) gift the Peace Out peel pads at some point, and having a mini moisturizer like this one from MILK on hand is always useful for when I inevitably run out. I got this set for the Olaplex + the coupon, but I’m not mad about the rest of it, either!

Plus, can we talk about the price? $15 is a great deal for all this stuff! This is a super-affordable grab bag that would make a great gift for any adventurous beauty lover. And even more impressive to me, each product in this set is vegan and cruelty free (or else I wouldn’t have bought it, of course). That’s unusual for these multi-brand Sephora trial sets; usually at least one product ruins the bunch in terms of veganism. I should say: I’m definitely not an expert in these certifications, although I do my homework. I am personally satisfied with each brand’s commitment to being cruelty-free and (at least in the case of these specific products) vegan. But of course, I encourage you to do your own research if you’re curious what the deal is. (Let me know if you’d like to see a post on that topic!)

That was my haul at this December’s Sephora sale! If we trust the “valued at” statements on Sephora’s website — which I usually prefer to double-check by doing the math myself, but honestly I’m far too tired for that right now — I got $144 worth of products for $67, plus tax. Not too shabby! (And that’s not including the couple of free samples and rewards bazaar items I picked up.)

I hope you enjoyed this post and found some inspiration from it! I compiled a few more items I’d gladly gift or receive below.

Other products I’d pick up as gifts from Sephora

(to give and/or treat yourself)

Fenty Beauty Lil Fly Stunna Mini Eye + Lip Set, $24

Fenty’s liquid eyeliner is one of the best I’ve used, and the Stunna Lip Paint is a truly stunning shade of red. I’ll be honest, it’s a little intense for me and my life. But if you need to slay any holiday Zoom calls, put on this liner and lipstick and go forth, queen. Plus….Rihanna. Enough said.

Tower 28 Mini Juicy All The Way Lip Jelly Set, ~~$20~~ $15

I’m so curious about Tower 28, I just don’t need any more lip glosses right now!

Ilia The Necessary Eyeshadow Palette, $38

I have this six-pan palette in Cool Nudes and I absolutely love it. It’s versatile enough for a range of netural eye looks, from barely-there to smoky, and it’s great for travel. (Oh, god, I miss traveling!) The Warm Nudes shades also look lovely.

Mentioned in passing in this post — in case you missed ’em:

Herbivore Mini True Blue Skin Clarifying Duo, $24

Bite Beauty Mini nude Lipstick Crayon Duo Set, $20

Fighting climate change is a campaign, not a term paper

I recently got a text from a friend that said, “I just can’t bring myself to care about climate change.” This friend is very politically active and plugged-in, but their brain isn’t framing climate change as a pressing, need-to-act-now issue—and I think I might understand why.

As a chronic procrastinator, I have some sense of what is procrastinate-able and what is not. Some tasks, like filling out a form, are not going to suffer much in quality if you leave them until the last minute; the only real downside is the unnecessary stress you put yourself under.

Others, like writing a paper, certainly should be started ahead of time, but it’s still technically possible to get them done under a tight deadline.

I think my friend, and many other people who aren’t taking climate change as seriously as they could be, see fighting climate change as the equivalent of a 10-page term paper: Yes, the paper would be better if you wrote an outline, a first draft, got feedback, days (or weeks, or months) before it’s due. It would benefit both the paper and the paper-writer—and the teacher, for that matter—to turn it in with plenty of time to spare before the deadline in case anything goes unexpectedly wrong, like a printer jam or a technical difficulty with online submission.

But when life gets in the way, and procrastination kicks in, you can still write a 10-page paper in the three hours before midnight when it’s due. It won’t be pretty, it probably won’t get an A, and those three hours will be miserable, but you can technically get it done.

Because the effects of climate change aren’t impacting our day-to-day life in the inland U.S. as much as they are other countries, and even the coastal regions of our own country, putting off decisive climate action can feel much like procrastinating a term paper. We’re all living with the constant low-level stress of knowing we should be doing things that we’re not. But many of us may be under the impression that we can pull out a last-minute turnaround in the last few hours before the paper is due, and with climate change, that’s just not the case.

Although we may not truly feel or comprehend its effects for several decades, the time to act on climate change is now. Renowned climate scientist Bill McKibben has reiterated this call to action, with increasing urgency, for over a decade; his most recent treatise in the New Yorker highlights the drastic and immediate actions we need to take to steer our future onto a non-apocalyptic course. Elizabeth Kolbert, an award-winning science journalist, paints a picture of three potential futures that await us. We’re in a choose-your-own-adventure book, but we can’t flip back to the previous page once we’ve gone too far down a path of bad choices.

So, if climate change can’t be addressed by furiously writing a last-minute term paper, what can we compare it to? Something that simply can’t be completed last minute, that will take days and weeks and months to achieve. Depending on your frame of reference, I’ve come up with a few examples: Writing a novel. Building a robot. Launching a presidential campaign.

A novel differs from a term paper most obviously in its length, which means it’s much more daunting and time-consuming to complete. Even the fastest typer in the world couldn’t write a novel in three hours. You must start long before your concrete deadline to avoid the negative consequences of not finishing your book.

Building a robot is a similarly formidable task, especially if you’re handicapped by a lack of tools or resources or knowledge. Or if someone keeps coming into your robot-building room and taking away essential pieces to use for their own benefit. Throwing together your remaining screws and bolts and bits of scrap metal won’t result in a functional robot, no matter how badly you want those incomplete pieces to add up.

Finally, running a presidential campaign, as we’ve seen over the past two years, is no quick or easy feat. It requires momentum, money, dedication, inspiration, public outreach, and delivering on promises. No one running for president could announce their candidacy in the fall, or even summer or spring, preceding an election and hope to win. Building a successful campaign is the result of the concentrated effort and resources of thousands, if not millions, of people over several years. Scale that effort up from a political race to the issue of our entire planet’s fate, and I hope you’ll see the momentous business we must take on. We must begin that campaign in earnest now—all of our futures depend on it. As Bill McKibben wrote three days ago, “on climate change, we’re entirely out of margin.”

I wrote this blog post in a stream-of-consciousness fashion and didn’t edit it very much, but I hope you enjoyed and got something out of it. Please let me know if you’d like to read more on this topic.

Vegan cream cheese frosting (no cream cheese required): a recipe

Cream cheese frosting, as a concept, is so far removed from cheese itself that it really only has a few attributes in common. Creamy? Yes. Tangy? Yes. Umami? No. Salty? No. Funky? Definitely not. Vegan cream cheese frosting, dare I say, is even further away.

So it never made sense to me to buy a pre-made vegan cream cheese to make cream cheese frosting. Can’t you replicate the qualities of a good cream cheese frosting without any…cheese, vegan or otherwise?

As it turns out, you can!

For my purposes, lemon juice is the secret ingredient. Adding just the right amount transforms a basic buttercream frosting into a tangy, cream-cheese-y, ready-for-carrot-cake delight.

I also like to use some coconut cream in my frosting to add richness in a different way than just vegan butter.

Check out my recipe below, and please let me know if you try it out!

Vegan cream cheese frosting

Ingredients

1/4 cup vegan butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup coconut cream*
1 Tbsp lemon juice (from about half a lemon, but definitely measure it)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2-2.5 cups powdered sugar
If needed: A splash of plant milk

Instructions

If you haven’t already, soften your butter by microwaving it at 50% power for 15 seconds at a time until soft to the touch.
Combine your butter, coconut cream, lemon juice, and vanilla extract in a large bowl and mix with a hand or stand mixer until well-combined, smooth, and fluffy.
Add powdered sugar, about a cup at a time, and continue mixing until the frosting has reached your desired sweetness level and texture. (You want it to be soft enough to spread, and thick enough that it won’t fall of your cake once you frost it.)
If your frosting is too stiff, you can add a splash of plant milk and re-blend. If it’s too runny, add more powdered sugar. If it’s not cheesy/tangy enough for you, you can add a little bit more lemon juice, but be careful! It’s a fine line between “cream cheese frosting” and “straight up lemon-flavored frosting,” and you can’t really go back from the latter.
Ideally, cool/set it in the fridge for about 30 minutes before using it to frost a cake. Then, enjoy!

Notes

This recipe was adapted from Minimalist Baker‘s buttercream frosting.
*For coconut cream, you want the solid stuff in a can of coconut milk. Sometime these cans are already separated, but if not, you can stick it in the fridge the day before you’re going to use the coconut cream. Then, when you’re ready, open the can without shaking it and scoop out the solids. That’s coconut cream!
You could probably substitute more of vegan butter or coconut cream for each other in this recipe, if you have a preference for one of the other, but I haven’t tested the recipe this way. Let me know how it goes if you do, though!

KOTN turtleneck review + 7 simple styling ideas

In the past couple years, I’ve embraced the appeal of turtlenecks. I didn’t gravitate toward them for a while—maybe because I wore them a lot as a kid and they held a childish association for me—but when I purchased a black ribbed turtleneck in a Midtown Goodwill on a whim, I learned to love this timeless cold-weather style. Since then, I’ve acquired a few more turtleneck shirts and sweaters, all from various secondhand sources. This season, I wanted to add one in a non-neutral, but still versatile, color.

Enter the fitted turtleneck from KOTN. I saw this piece on one of my favorite blogs, Style Bee, and thought it might be perfect for what I was looking for. I’m happy to say that it is!

Made of 100% cotton, the fabric is pleasantly soft, and stretchy enough to fit snugly without being too clingy. It’s slightly ribbed, but the texture is subtle enough that I didn’t notice it until I had it on. This top is opaque, but it is thin enough that I could see, for example, the outline of a bra strap or tank top.

Based on the size guide, I thought I should order a small, but I was worried that some pandemic weight gain would make that size too small. Luckily, the small fits just right! For reference, I’m 5’9.5″ and about 160 pounds at the moment. The hemline falls to my hip, so I can easily tuck it into a high-waisted skirt or pair of pants, but it might be difficult to tuck into a lower-rise waistband. The sleeves are a good length for me, too.

I chose the color Deep Sea, a dark forest green. The name made me think it’d be a cooler blue-green, but it’s actually pretty neutral—not too cool or too warm, which makes it even more useful in my wardrobe. I’d say the color as depicted on KOTN’s website is quite accurate to its true appearance.

Below, I’ve come up with 7 outfits I can (and very likely will) wear with this turtleneck. It’s super versatile, as you can see—this piece runs the gamut from formal (for me, anyway) to casual, appropriate for a wide range of weather.

Classic

turtleneck + high-rise skinny jeans + simple necklace + Chelsea boots + crossbody bag

This is a go-to kind of outfit for me: a colorful top; my favorite jeans, cuffed; and sturdy slip-on boots. I’d wear it for running errands, seeing friends (at a distance), or bopping around town.

Cute

turtleneck + checkered sleeveless dress + black tights + lace-up boots

I’ve had this stretchy sleeveless dress for ages and it’s now a bit to short to wear on its own, but luckily it works great for layering over tights and a long-sleeved tee. A short dress with chunky Docs is a classic combo in my opinion!

Collegiate

turtleneck + campus sweatshirt + black jeans + backpack + work boots

Wearing this sweatshirt always makes me feel so collegiate. (Which…I still am, but in grad school, the vibe is a bit different!) Wearing the turtleneck underneath, it only peeks out at the collar, but adds that extra layer of warmth to take this outfit further into the cold season.

Romantic

turtleneck + floral midi skirt + simple necklace + white sneakers (or boots if it’s muddy!)

Who said turtlenecks can’t be sexy? They may cover you all the way up, but I think they have a certain allure. I love this button-front midi skirt because I can unbutton it to show some leg, or keep it fully buttoned for a more modest look. (How many times can I use the word “button” in the same sentence?) I don’t think I have a pair of shoes that matches the vibe I was going for exactly, but I’d probably wear white sneakers if it’s nicer out or brown boots if the weather’s more gross.

Sporty

turtleneck + black mini skort + sneakers + ballcap

Now, of course I wouldn’t wear this top to play a sport, but I’d definitely wear it to watch a sport—assuming things like that were still happening (and I’m sure they will again in the future!). I could see myself wearing this outfit to a football game, or to watch my little brother play soccer. (In either case, the relevant mascot is a mountain lion/cougar. Same as my high school’s mascot, too…)

Scholarly

turtleneck + tweed blazer + jeans (or more appropriate bottoms if you’ve got ’em—I’d probably go for khakis) + oxfords

This vintage L.L. Bean blazer makes me feel like the academic I hope to (someday, maybe) be! The green woven into the blazer’s pattern actually matches the shade of this turtleneck exactly, and the oxfords complete the scholarly look. If I had a more suitable pair of pants, I’d wear them with this outfit instead, but all my dressier pants are gray for some reason.

Cozy

turtleneck + oversized cardigan + leggings + snow boots

The wintriest look of the bunch—this one will be on the back burner for another month or so at least (I hope so, anyway) while the weather stays unseasonably warm. I love the look of this oversized cardigan I scored on mega-sale at a fast fashion store ages ago, but it’s pretty itchy on my skin, so I always have to wear a long-sleeved layer under it. This turtleneck is perfect for that task, so this outfit is one I’d bundle up in whenever I have to venture outside this winter.

That’s it for this post! Let me know if you want more “fashion” content in the future. Which outfit is your favorite?

Note: This post contains referral links to get us both a discount if you choose to shop at KOTN.

October 2020 goals and Bullet Journal fun

Somehow, it’s been a full year since I last shared my monthly goals and their accompanying spread in my bullet journal. Does anyone else feel like the past 6 months of pandemic-life have made time fly by?

I finally cleaned my home office/desk space after letting it become a mess of a storage area all summer. I had justified that with the fact that I was doing fieldwork and needed all my equipment easily accessible, which was technically true, but summer crept into fall and my desk was still piled high with unnecessary papers. Last night, I finally dragged myself out of my election season-induced funk and put my space in order. It feels awesome, and I’ve used the accompanying burst of inspiration to create what might be my most “artistic” bullet journal spread ever.

I’m usually pretty by-the-book with the standard bullet journal method—on a normal day, the most I’ll go beyond to-do lists and notes is slightly fancy lettering for the day of the week—but this time, I took inspiration from some monthly spreads I found online to add some fall cheer to my journal’s pages.

On the left side, I’ve listed the days of the month with dates and events to keep track of, and near the center, I’ve added an activity tracker to cross off the days when I’ve made an effort to move my body.

On the right, in addition to some fun tree stickers and pumpkin doodles, I’ve written out my monthly goals. I’ll likely add to these as October goes on, but I like to start the month with a few specific goals. Let’s take a look!

Read 4 books.

This one’s pretty self-explanatory! It’s a goal I usually set every month, and last month was the first time in awhile that I achieved it.

Complete basic data analysis.

I finally wrapped my my master’s fieldwork last month, and now it’s time to delve into all that data I collected. I need to do some self-guided learning about multivariate statistics, but for now, I want to make sense of the data with the methods I already know—quantifying it with descriptive stats and ANOVAs.

(By the way, I know “data” is technically a plural noun, and I’m usually a total stickler about grammar, but in this case…I have just always referred to it as singular. Maybe it’s a generational thing? Is it really that bad? Language evolves with the people who speak it, so maybe this is a case of evolution in action. I’m probably not going to “correct” myself, but I’d love to hear what you think about this topic in the comments.)

Write 4 blog posts.

Again—this one’s pretty obvious. I’m on track to publish this on the first of the month, so hopefully it bodes well for the rest of them!

Be active 15 times.

This is how I’ll use the “activity tracker” on the left page of my monthly spread. Especially now that I’m not out in the forest 4 days a week (which feels very bittersweet), I need to break up the desk-sitting monotony and move my body. As the weather turns colder, it can be easy for me to get into a routine that doesn’t include exercise, but I always remember how much better it makes me feel when I get back into it.

Pitch a story.

Since my life doesn’t *entirely* revolve around grad school, I’m trying to pursue my interest in journalism (and specifically science writing) in my free time. That means pitching stories! I’m pretty rusty, but that’s no reason not to try.

Gather all landscape variables for LANDIS initialization.

This is a pretty technical one. If any of you readers are familiar with the LANDIS-II forest model, please let me know if you have any tips!

Looking at this list, I am realizing that it’s pretty self development-focused, whether that growth is personal or professional. I should make some goals that reflect outward, too. I do volunteer weekly with a local organization, but I would love to do more…actually, this realization just prompted me to sign up for a volunteer shift tomorrow. Exciting!

Let me know what your goals are for this month in the comments below. Also, if you have any ideas of blog posts you’d like to see, I would love to hear them. Happy fall!

Scrumptious maple-mustard vinaigrette: a recipe

This is probably my favorite salad dressing—and I don’t even eat that much salad!

It’s inspired by the Love & Magic dressing at SweetArt, an incredible vegan restaurant and bakery in St. Louis. I went to college in St. Louis and whenever I needed a pick-me-up treat, I biked to SweetArt and got myself a cupcake (only $2 on Wednesdays!). When I wanted to be a bit more nutritionally responsible, I indulged in their burger—still the best veggie burger I’ve had to date—and a side of the kale salad with Love & Magic dressing.

I was obsessed with figuring out the secret to their dressing, and I never did, until a couple years ago when a Thanksgiving recipe called on me to make a marinade with maple syrup and Dijon mustard. I tasted it and it was delicious…and it reminded me of that elusive, magical dressing. Since then I’ve honed in on a recipe that may not contain all the same Love & Magic as SweetArt’s, but it’s still pretty damn great.

Tl;dr: Make this dressing, and whenever you’re in St. Louis, get a burger, a salad, and a cupcake from SweetArt—you’ll be glad you did.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
5 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1.5 Tbsp soy sauce or tamari
Black pepper, to taste

Instructions

In a jar, combine all ingredients. Screw the lid on tightly and shake vigorously to combine. Taste the dressing and if desired, add a bit more maple syrup for sweetness, vinegar for acidity, mustard for tang, or soy sauce for saltiness/depth of flavor. Enjoy!

Note: Recipe adapted from this one from the Food Network.

Peachy green: A makeup look

Like many people, I think, I’ve been wearing less makeup during the pandemic. For me, that’s mostly been a product of the pandemic coinciding with my field season; I’ve never bothered to put on makeup for my annual tradition of 10-hour days of sweating in the middle of nowhere. When I’m not in the field, though, I’ve relished the opportunity to feel a little bit put-together amid a world of chaos. This look came together on one of those rare makeup days, and though I’d never thought to combine these two particular shades (peach and chartreuse) on my eyelids, I’m really pleased with the results. (My winged eyeliner skills could use some work, but that’s nothing new.)

Products Used

Face

Makeup Revolution Conceal & Define (shades 6.5 and 7)
Urban Decay Naked Skin Ultra Definition Loose Finishing Powder (Naked Light)
Milani Baked Powder Blush (Luminoso)
TheBalm Mary Lou-Manizer

Eyes

Urban Decay Primer Potion (Original)
Nabla Soul Blooming Eyeshadow Palette (Gea, Bolero, Chamomile, Philosophy)
BareMinerals READY Eyeshadow 4.0 in The Wild Thing (Icon)
KVD Tattoo Liner (Trooper)
Milk Makeup Kush Mascara

Lips

Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Gloss (Vintage Rose)

Really good greens: a recipe

If you or a loved one blanch at the mere mention of kale, you may be entitled to this recipe for Really Good Greens.

Ingredients

1 large bunch lacinato kale (or other dark leafy green)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, sliced into thin rings
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 Tbsp soy sauce or tamari
0.5 tsp vegan chicken-flavored bouillon paste (I use Better than Bouillon No-Chicken Base)
Black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Wash your greens and tear or chop them into roughly bite-sized pieces.
Heat a large, tall-sided pan over medium heat. Add olive oil, then add shallot. Once shallot is softened, about 3-4 minutes, add garlic and stir until fragrant, about 1 more minute.
Add chopped kale to the pan and top with soy sauce and bouillon paste. Mix to combine, and keep over medium heat until kale has wilted and bouillon paste has completely dissolved. (If you prefer your greens more saucy, place a lid on the pot while the kale wilts; otherwise, leave it uncovered.)
Once kale is wilted, add black pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Kate’s chickpea salad: a recipe

Long time, no see! I’ve been super busy with field research this summer and I have a growing list of blog topics I want to talk about. As I transition into the school year and my schedule becomes (somewhat) less hectic, I’m hopeful that I can find time to blog more regularly. For now, though, enjoy this simple and delicious chickpea salad recipe that’s been sitting in my drafts for months…

I’ve had a few run-ins with chickpea salad since I went vegan, and I’ve never enjoyed it as much as I wanted to. I looooove chickpeas, and I like salad (though not the mayo-based ones quite as much), so this should be right up my alley…right?

I think my main problem was that the recipes I tried over-veganified things. This is a term I’m using, starting right now, to describe foods that veer a bit too far into stereotypical-vegan-ingredient-replacement-health-focused-changes for my personal taste. It’s totally subjective! But for me, a chickpea salad that used avocado for the main fat just tasted like weeeeird guacamole. Sunflower seeds didn’t do it for me, either. Too much garlic, an ingredient I usually adore, also kind of ruined the experience. So for the past couple years, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that chickpea salad is one of those vegan things I just can’t get behind, like eggplants and massive portobello mushrooms.

That is, until my friend Kate told me about a chickpea salad she made last weekend. It sounded deliciously simple, and I knew I had to try it as a potential field lunch. When I’m doing fieldwork, I need lunches that are portable, filling, don’t need to be refrigerated, and can survive being jostled around in a backpack for several hours before being eaten while I sit on the forest floor. This chickpea salad sounded like it just might fit the bill…and lo and behold, it did!

No frills, no fancy ingredients, and it comes together in minutes. What more can you ask of a field lunch, really?! Oh, and in addition to being vegan, this recipe is also gluten-free and low-FODMAP. Pretty awesome!

The key to making this a delicious lunch was to eat it with super-crunchy pita chips. I’d packed previous chickpea salads into wraps or sandwiches, where they’d turn into a soggy, monotextural mush by lunchtime. But with pita chips (or maybe a really sturdy toasted bread), there’s a salty crunch that pairs wonderfully with the creamy, tangy chickpea salad.

Anway, that is all to say: I’m so happy to have found my perfect chickpea salad. Thanks, Kate! Let’s get to the recipe:

Simple chickpea salad

It may not *look* all that appetizing, but personally I don’t think any mayo-based salads are particularly photogenic. Trust me, it tastes good.

Serves: 2 as a main or 4 as a side (double the recipe for a week’s worth of lunches!)
Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

1 15.5-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or about 1.75 cups cooked chickpeas)
1/4 cup vegan mayo
1 stalk celery, diced
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp dried or 2 Tbsp fresh dill

Instructions

In a medium-sized bowl, mash chickpeas with the back of a fork until a chunky mash forms & only a few whole beans remain.
Mix in the rest of the ingredients & refrigerate overnight to let the flavors meld together. Serve with pita chips or on sturdy toasted bread with Romaine.

“Rain On Me”-inspired makeup

For the past several days, I’ve been jamming to Lady Gaga’s new song (ft. Ariana Grande), “Rain On Me,” pretty much nonstop. The song is amazing, and the music video is equally fabulous. This music release feels like it’s from another world—and certainly, the video must have been shot before the current global pandemic situation. If you somehow haven’t yet seen/head this masterpiece, here you go:

Gaga and Ari’s makeup/entire look in this video inspired me to glam up my own face a bit this Memorial Day. I just washed all my makeup brushes (long overdue—if you’re reading this, you probably should, too. Just sayin’) and they’re currently drying, so I only used sponges and fingers (mostly fingers) for this look, a fun challenge. I usually am a major brush lover, so it was refreshing to get out of my comfort zone application-wise.

Color-wise, though, this look was right in my comfort zone, which is to say, PURPLE. Whenever I’m wearing a non-neutral makeup look, chances are that it’s mostly purple. It’s my second-favorite color (yellow, unfortunately, is not quite as flattering on my face), and it makes brown eyes pop! I’m just obsessed. I used a combination of new and well-loved products to create this look and I’m loving the subtly space-glam vibe. Plus, no fussy application techniques, since again, I didn’t have any brushes to use. Read on to learn what products I used to create this look!

“I’d rather be dry, but at least I’m alive”

Yes, my eyebrows are fully two different shapes/sizes…one of the many struggles of quarantine. They say “your eyebrows should be sisters, not twins” but right now, mine look more like second cousins. Which one do you like better?! I can’t decide!

Products used

Face

Hourglass Veil Fluid Makeup (Nude)
- sample; this shade was a bit dark for me
Makeup Revolution Conceal & Define (C6.5)
Covergirl Clean Fresh Cream Blush (390, Ripe & Ready)
Kani Botanicals Prismatic Highlighter (Rose Quartz)

Eyes

CoverFX Shimmer Veil (Amethyst)
NYX Faux Whites (White Smoke)
Nabla Dazzle Liner (Royal Blood)
Tarte Lights Camera Lashes
Essence Lash & Brow Gel Mascara

Lip

Bite Beauty Crystal Crème Shimmer Lip Crayon (Grape Glaze)

Rain on me, rain, rain

Thanks for reading!