It’s one of my favorite times of year again! And this time, despite a precarious schedule and some potential work travel, I am very set on winning.

The Reading Rush (July 22-28) is the shiny new evolution of BookTubeAThon, the reading challenge I hold near and dear to my heart. BookTubeAThon, way back in 2014, was the catalyst that threw me headfirst into BookTube.

And that year was a dream.

After that, I’m pretty sure I failed year after year after year, but I had fun doing it. And truly, nothing will ever compare to that first year, when I read the entirety of The Selection by Kiera Cass in three days. What a time to be alive.

Anyway, there’s not much different for me this year, save for the massive rebrand the readathon hosts have undergone — that and my dogged determination to get back to my former seven-books-in-seven-days glory.

So here’s to the first year of The Reading Rush! Get yourself to the fancy new website where you can track your progress and earn shiny badges and whatnot. Exciting stuff, man. As a note, I’ll be hosting the Twitter sprints Thursday the 25th from 7-8pm. For those of you who’ve been around for previous BookTubeAThons, you know what that means…. *devious face*

Here’s my TBR and the challenges [two audiobooks not pictured]! May your days be filled with wonderful words and comfortable reading spots.

1. In The Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce (purple on the cover)
2. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling (Book to Movie Adaptation)
3. Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce (meant to read last year)
4. My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life by Rachel Cohn (over 5 words in title)
5. The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab (an author’s first book)
6. The Light Jar by Lisa Thompson (Same Spot the Whole Time)
7. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (Non-Human Main Character)

Are you doing The Reading Rush? What are you reading?

 My first thought upon receiving this month’s Ipsy bag was “ugh, what a terrible makeup bag design”. I immediately felt guilty, of course, when I read that this is the first month they’re starting to feature artist’s work on the bags. *facepalm* This month’s is from a piece called “Street Anantomy” by Klari Reis, and I’m sure it’s a lovely work of art usually – it just didn’t translate very well to a makeup bag (in my opinion). I really love this new idea though, and am very much looking forward to seeing the other styles of art they decide to feature on future bags.

Anyway, onward to the makeup!

NYX “Love in Rio” 3 Color Shadow Palette: Right away I didn’t like this product very much – the colors are all shiny and I tend to like at least one color in a palette to be matte, and the lightest one didn’t go on as evenly as I would have liked. It took me a bit longer than normal to make it look good, but once I finished my eye shadow, it did end up looking pretty nice. I don’t know how often I’ll use it though – why work that hard when other eye shadow brands are so much better to work with?

Pixi Flawless Beauty Primer: Before I started really getting into makeup about a year ago, I was totally clueless when it came to skin products. Foundations, concealers, powders – it’s totally overwhelming! In fact, I didn’t even know until very recently that primer was a thing you’re supposed to use on your face. For eye shadow, yes, but for the rest of your face? Who knew? Anyway, I’m still very much in the trial and learning stage of primers, so I was happy to get one in this month’s bag – but I don’t have much of an opinion yet. I do like Pixi products, so I’m hoping this one will be good. Generally with skin products, the only thing that really matters to me is whether or not it makes me break out, and that is yet to be seen. So, fingers crossed!

Chella Eyeliner Pen in “Indigo Blue”: This was a really interesting and fun product! I usually just wear boring old black eyeliner, because I really enjoy the pen style liquid applicators and they usually just come in black. I haven’t tried too many felt tipped eyeliners, but this one is quite nice and is a really vibrant blue. This is probably my favorite product of the month.

Bare Minerals Marvelous Moxie Lipstick in “Get Ready”: This lipstick is great. The color is lovely, it smells delicious and it doesn’t feel too sticky on my lips (which is always a deal breaker for me with lip products). I am exceptionally picky when it comes to what I put on my lips, so good job, Bare Minerals. Big thumbs up from me.

This picture shows all four ipsy products for the month combined with my normal daily routine. Is it just me, or did Ipsy bags used to have five products? Either way, I was pretty pleased with this month and I hope they stay on this better track, especially through the summer. As always, if you want to get fun products delivered to you each month, you can sign up here! If you’re already a member of Ipsy, let me know which products you loved the most this month.