PensWorld: February 2018

Thursday, February 22, 2018

13 Beauty Tricks You Had No Idea You Could Do With a Spoon

May 2, 2014

Spoons aren't just for soup. Did you know you can use them for nail art, pimple minimization, and creating the perfect winged eyeliner? Here are those tricks and many more.

1. Freeze two spoons, and sweep them under your eyes to get rid of under eye bags.

Put two metal spoons in the freezer at night, and in the morning, place the backs of the cold spoons under your eyes and as close to the inner corners as possible. Apply a little bit of pressure and slowly glide the spoons toward the outer corners. The gliding movement will help drain the fluid that's pooling underneath your eye, while the cold spoon will help minimize any puffiness.

2. Use the handle and the rounded edge to create the perfect winged liner.

Hold the handle of a spoon against the outer corner of your eye, and draw a straight line. Then, flip the spoon so it's hugging your eyelid, and use the rounded outer edge to create a perfectly curved, winged tip. After you've made your outline, fill it in, and draw a line across your lashline to finish the look.

3. Hold a spoon underneath your eye when applying mascara on your lower lashes to avoid marks on your under eye area.

Kathleen Kamphausen

Place a spoon below your eye with the curve out and then apply your mascara like you normally would to your lower lashes. That way the residue will land on the back of the utensil rather than your skin. This also works when applying mascara on your upper lashes if you place the spoon on top of your upper eyelid.

4. Fix broken eyeshadow by adding drops of rubbing alcohol and pressing it together with the back of a spoon.

If your eyeshadow, blush, or any kind of compressed powder product is broken, add a few drops of rubbing alcohol to the crushed product, and press the pieces back together by applying pressure with the back of a clean spoon. Let it dry and then use as normal.

5. Curl your lashes with the edge of a spoon.

If you don't have an eyelash curler nearby, grab a metal spoon instead. Place the curved edge right above your top lashes with the back of the spoon against your eyelid. With your finger, lightly press your lashes against the edge to mimic the clamp of an eyelash curler. Move the edge of the spoon out along the lashes and continue pressing. For a more dramatic curl, heat the spoon up a bit with a blow dryer first.

6. Align the curve of the spoon to your brow to get the perfect arch.

The curve of a large spoon is the perfect shape for an eyebrow arch. Line up the curve of the spoon underneath your brow, and lightly trace around it with a brow pencil. Use this line as a guide, and begin filling in your brows above it with light strokes.

7. Mix loose pigments with a salve to make your own custom lip color.

Grab one of your favorite eyeshadow pigments, and blend it with a little bit of a salve, such as VMV Hypoallergenics Boo-Boo Balm, or petroleum jelly in a spoon. Use a finger or a brush to apply your new custom lip color.

8. Make contouring easier by using a spoon to find exactly where the hollows of your cheeks are.

If it's difficult for you to find the hollows under your cheekbones for contouring, grab a spoon, and cup the apples of your cheeks so that it fits comfortably inside. The area just below the spoon is where you should apply contour powder.

9. Use the cup of the spoon as a palette for nail art projects.

Pour drops of the polish you're using into the spoon. This makes it easier to dip small tools into the paint for nail art designs. (Tip via Nail artist Simcha Whitehill aka Miss Pop.)

10. Give your nails a marble effect by swirling two polishes together and rolling your nail over the edge of the spoon.

Pour drops of nail polish into the spoon, and swirl them together with a bobby pin. After you've created a design you like, let the polish slide to the edge of the spoon by tilting the handle. Align the bottom of your nail bed along the edge spoon, and roll your nail on top of the paint. Clean up the messy edges to finish the look.

11. Prevent the polish from getting on the skin around your nails by holding the tip of the spoon underneath your nail.

Grab a plastic spoon and hold the tip underneath your nails while you paint to prevent the polish from getting on the skin on the tip of your fingers.

12. Reduce the size of a hickey or a bruise by rubbing a cold spoon on top.

Put a spoon in your freezer, and once it's cold, rub the back of it against a new bruise or a hickey to slow the blood from rushing to the area and help it fade.

13. Place the back of a hot spoon on a pimple to help heal it.

This is an old trick to help a new zit heal faster. Run your hand under sink water to find a temperature that is hot but does not burn to touch. After you find a good temperature, fill a cup and soak the spoon in the water. Once the spoon is hot (test it on the back of your hand first to make sure it's not too hot) place the back of the spoon against a pimple, and hold it there until the spoon cools off.

This story originally appeared on Cosmopolitan.com.

From: Cosmopolitan US

KARMA IS COMING FOR YOU

"Face the feeling like it’s nothing" but then is that what it is?

How easy do u think it is?

To walk up to them and tell them I'm a thief no an armed robber and not only that; I killed their father during one of my operations.

This will shatter them even if they already moved on.

No I'm not doing it, not now, not in the future.

The scene I picture is not as easy as u mentioned.

Doing that could mean my life.

I'm still too young, no wife. I'm not doing a task that is equivalent to sleeping on a bed of knives.

All these said from my mind but what do I hear from my conscience?

It’s silent but don't forget you can say a lot more without talking; the guilt buried in its silence,

The silence is so much that I could hear my every heart beat as if using a stethoscope. every beat louder than the previous and I can't help but tell myself that anyone who blames Judas Iscariot is a hypocrite because I just understood what he went through…

Do u even know what it feels like to live with guilt.

After every minute it's even harder to confess.

After every deep thought it’s hardest to confess.

Now I wish I dwelt in my old ways because then I had no conscience.

I hate you for preaching to me no lying to me "old things are passed away"you said.

Now I've followed you this far just for you to tell me about restitution,

This is nothing but persecution.

The only reason I'm going to confess to them is because "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me".

Now on my way I'm most careful so as not to hurt as much as even a fly.

Because the eyes of karma never closes.

Watch your steps and mind your thoughts because no matter how long it takes KARMA is coming for you!

*KARMA IS COMING FOR YOU*

CREDIT: Shutterstock
THE MUSE

We've all been there: In the audience at a dry pitch event or witnessing a lackluster presentation in a work meeting and counting the minutes until you can stop pretending to listen.
It's alarming how common the expectation is for a presentation to be boring, especially when there are simple and concrete tools you can use to be engaging and memorable. So let's scrap the dusty PowerPoint presentations and shake things up!
As sketch comedians who perform text from the internet word-for-word onstage, we've been giving a lot of lessons to techies, entrepreneurs, and corporate folk alike about how to take their content and make it exciting, no matter what that raw material is. And now, we're bringing a few of our favorite tips to you.

1. Use Your Audience

There's no better way to wake up your audience and keep them engaged than to literally use them in your presentation. Don't ask rhetorical questions; ask actual questions, and wait for people to really answer you. If they don't, ask again.
Alternatively, find ways to get creative with audience engagement: For instance, rather than show everyone that 20% of your demographic thinks one way through a boring slide, try having 20% of them move to one side of the room. Or, have the chairs already set up at 20/80 when people arrive, and at some point ask if they know why they're seated that way. (You could also gift prizes hidden under seats to 20% of the audience, Oprah-style, but we realize this might only be exciting when the loot is a budget-breaking Lexus or cruise vacation.)
On a related note, know your audience. You probably already know that you should customize your presentations slightly based on the audience, but we encourage you to go one step further. Are there anecdotes or examples that you can alter specifically based on the demographic? How much or what kind of humor will your audience be okay with? On that note:

2. Don’t Fear the Funny

A lot of people come to us because they want to create memorable moments and add humor to their presentations, but then they're afraid that they can't do that. “Oh, I’m not funny,” they say. “I'm not an actor; I could never do that.”
Well, first of all, you can! What most people don't realize is that adding humor does not mean that you need to start honing your stand-up skills, which sounds terrifying even to us.
There are plenty of ways to add humor while taking the pressure completely off of you. A strategically placed clip of, say, a slow loris eating a banana can introduce a section on internet behavior, or Avril Lavigne's "why do you have to go and make things so complicated" can start playing after you make your point about simplification.
Of course, always abide by tip #1 and know your audience; different levels and types of humor will work with different demographics, while potentially offending others. For stodgier groups, something as painless as a long pause at the right moment (e.g., to illustrate how much time one might waste without your product or service) can leave your audience in titters and remembering that one moment.

3. Incorporate Music. Or Memes. Or a Dance Ensemble.

Maybe your decks are beautiful. Maybe you are a Prezi pro. Nevertheless, we've all seen a million Keynotes and PowerPoints, and at least a dozen Prezis. What will really help you make your presentation memorable? Cat memes. Theme music. Cat themes and meme music!
In other words, don’t always rely on the "tried-and-true," as that can be a pretty good indicator that everyone is already doing it. Challenge yourself to illustrate bullet points or guiding concepts in unusual, less literal ways. Turn an idea on its head and get people laughing with a parody video. Call a volunteer "assistant" up to the stage. In creating scenes onstage, we always talk about showing rather than telling. Always ask yourself how can you enrich your message with tools or media that the audience is not expecting.

4. Use Projections Wisely (or Not at All)

We see far too many presentations in which slides are used, well, the same exact way everyone else uses them. Can you project somewhere surprising, rather than on the same screen as the last presenter? Can you inject a little comedic timing into your slide presentation? Oftentimes, you may not need a slide at all and can use your intonation and presence alone to tell your story. Shakespearean scholar and theater director John Barton, for example, recites over 100 Knights of the Round Table in front of a live audience, using the tone of his voice and his demeanor to tell you about the personalities of each knight. Challenge yourself to be communicative without technology at least once in your presentation.

5. Take the Time to Brainstorm

Expecting to be struck by inspiration in the moment is like expecting your mom to understand Tinder. Don't count on it.
Some of us are luckier than others, but most “luck” is a combination of skill and hard work. It's the same for creativity. Cultivating ideas (and ideas that work) takes time. You might just have to take that extra hour or three to plan your presentation's creative move. Don't feel badly about it! No one will know, and the truth is that great presenters are already doing it; you just don’t realize it.
Spend time brainstorming all the out-of-the-box things you can do. Do it now. Make a list. Hash out your ideas and revise them. Think in "what ifs." If enough people read this article, tips #1-4 will become cliché, because everyone will be using cat memes and hiring dance ensembles. But only tip #5 will never fail you!
Go forth and entertain!

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