Neutrals from NYX

 Of course after last week's rant about the over-abundance of neutrals, I would have to review a neutral-hued product! I've actually had this mini-palette for quite a while and have been meaning to give it a good look. It's from NYX's Love in Paris collection and is called "Parisian Chic." I chose this particular one because it had a nice combination of shimmery and sparkly golden colors with some nice taupes, too. I figured it would be a good one for me to use to do a neutral smoky eye, like so:

I used four colors from the palette to create this look, and topped it off with a little Urban Decay 24/7 liner in West. I applied the colors dry over a base of Urban Decay's shadow primer and then spritzed myself with some makeup setting spray and headed over to troupe practice. After an hour of building up a good sweat, I came home and found that I had a little color loss. I had also noticed this after wearing it all day on a non-dance day last week.

So far I'm not really convinced that this eye shadow can stand up to hardcore dancing. However, I do really like to use it for daily wear when I want to look nice. A quick swipe of a couple colors from this palette gives me a slightly glamorous neutral eye look that is great for daytime meetings with clients or fellow dancers. I also think this might be a good choice for the student dancer who is only going to be dancing for a few minutes at the recital and wants something she can make use of outside of her dance life, too. The packaging is compact, sturdy, and closes securely, so it should travel well. NYX offers 10 different Love in Paris palettes that are each only $10 for 9 colors, so they're worth a try, especially since they are Cruelty Free.

Shimmer Waves

 On a recent trip to The Body Shop I picked up this "Shimmer Waves" in Blush because I thought it might be a nice blush to use with the rose-gold eye looks that are so in right now. Plus I had been looking for a blush that had a range of colors I could swipe through for a more gradated look.

After a few uses, I've decided that while I like this product, it is definitely more of a daytime blush than a stage blush. It adds a light shimmer and flush to my cheeks but isn't noticeable from any sort of distance. It might work better as a highlighter than an actual blush, or for adding a touch of shimmer over a less-sparkly product.

However, I noticed that it also had an eye symbol, so I decided hey, why not try it as an eyeshadow? And I am pretty happy with the results. These colors make nice neutrals for daytime looks or for building a bigger look around. I wore them twice, once just for dinner and a second time for a day of running errands and such. After 12 hours, during which I got a little sweaty, I didn't notice any color loss. And that was with just applying them over primer and not using a setting spray.

Photo taken at the end of the day. Oh boy, I look so glamorous!

For the most part I don't think this product is really well-suited for stage use, but it is nice for when you want a simple, polished look for day-to-day life. And the plastic compact it comes in seems pretty sturdy, so you could definitely throw it into your purse or makeup bag and take it with you for touch-ups.

Edited to add: The wonderful Becka Bomb used to work at The Body Shop and had some additional insights to add on this product "My fav is the bronze although I have these as well but they are more for shimmer than a blush. I am hoping they did not sell them to you as a blush, I like to take this color and use it as a nice shimmery highlight. The one thing I will warn about on this product is that as you work your way into a bare spot from usage they can have breakage. They also are not the best to travel with unless wrapped because they will break. I worked at TBS for years I loved this product when it first came out but over the years the product itself seems to have become more fragile." So with that knowledge, I retract my recommendation to throw it into your purse and take it with you. Thank you Becka, you are the best!

Beauty Blogging for Bellydancers Year-End Top Ten!

 Since I started Beauty Blogging for Bellydancers in January 2013, it seems only fitting that the last Friday of the year should be a retrospective of a few of my favorite products, ending with a couple that I haven't reviewed yet! Now, I'm not really good at ranking the things I love, so don't think of this as a "Top 10 Best Products" but more of a "the first ten things I thought of that I love and happen to have pictures of."

#1. Urban Decay Build-your-Own Palettes. While it's true that the colors in the palette I featured above had a "meh" pay-off, I really like the 6-pan build your own palette box they came in, and I also love my 4-pan with "Rock" in it. I also like that more and more companies are developing their own build-your own, because anything that makes it easier for me to take all my favorite colors in one easy package is OK with me.

 #2. BLAST FLIPSTICK! It is possible that I included these just because I love the name, but honestly, I do get a ton of use out of the berry-hued one.

#3. Lip Tar by Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics. I can't get enough of this stuff and I recommend it to everyone, I've even got my mom and my mother-in-law wearing it.

#4. Shiny, iridescent, color-shifting nail polish colors. This one is part of Maybelline's Color Show line but I like other brands, too.

#5. THE WONDER PENCIL! Another product where I love the name, but this unassuming, affordable product really does come in handy and I use it all the time. 

#6. Spellbinding Eyeshadow Book. I haven't used this as much as I would like but I am really in love with the colors.

#7. Imperialis Facial Moisturizer by Lush Cosmetics. I LOVE this stuff. It makes my face smell like orange blossoms. It's a light, creamy moisturizer which keeps my skin from drying out in the desert air.

#8 and #9. Zoya brand nail polish and Jamberry nail wraps. I love Zoya for their unusual colors which tend to hold up well. Here I'm wearing Seraphina with a Black Friday exclusive Winter Morning nail wrap for a lovely, wintery nail look. Jamberry lets me have the fancy nail designs I'd never be able to master myself, without having to carve out time to go to the salon.

#10. e.l.f Lashes. They're affordable. They're available in a variety of styles. They're easy to buy at Target. And while I've been told the glue isn't great, it is latex-free. I honestly don't know why I've never reviewed these, as they're definitely perfect for bellydancers. I mean, at this price, you can even occasionally wear them for date-night or a party and not feel guilty.

Pop Beauty Palette

 A few months ago I saw this palette from Pop Beauty at Ulta and was impressed by how pigmented the colors seemed to be, so I decided to wait until I had a coupon and pick it up. This "Bright Delight" set would add some much needed vibrancy to an eye shadow collection that is largely dominated by darker, more subdued colors.

The packaging makes it seem a little cheap, almost like a kids or teens brand, even though Ulta keeps it in the prestige cosmetics section of the store (which meant I had to wait for the rare coupon that wasn't limited to drug store brands). This palette especially reminds me of those cheap water color sets you'd always get as a kid. On the other hand, the big round pans really show the colors well and are quite generous. The brights are really pleasing to the eye.

 I started doing a green look for Open Stage last week and while I was impressed by the level of pigment and I really liked the colors, I realized this was going to be too light for the dimly-lit Sky Bar so I covered it in glitter instead. These greens could serve as good accent colors for a more intense green, or use them for a daytime performance where you want a brighter, friendlier look. I used the lighter yellow on my brow bone and it makes for a nice neutral there.

Last night I decided to give the palette another try and stress-test it at class. I was really impressed by the intense teal. This was a dry application, so the color must be insane when it's applied wet! I added the pewter color to make it a smoky look, then topped it off with some glitter liner because I felt like it. 2 hours of dance class including a cardio warm-up and it held well. I had a little color loss in the crease which is typical for me, but otherwise it looked pretty good at the end of the night.

At only $24 for a generous palette with a decent double-ended brush, this is a really good deal. The colors give good pay-off and have a really nice texture, going on smoothly. The case latches really securely, so you can throw it in your makeup bag and know it's going to hold up, making it ideal for travel. For the beginning dancer especially, this is a reasonable way to add some good, vibrant colors to your existing makeup collection as you learn how to do performance makeup. I'm happy with my purchase and look forward to making good use of this palette.

Kat Von D Spellbinding Eyeshadow Book

Are you guys ready to meet my new favorite palette? I am so in love with this thing. I love the colors, I love the cover art, I love the concept, I love how big it is and how much eyeshadow there is in it. It's the Kat Von D Spellbinding Eyeshadow Book! It's also sold out on Sephora's website, so I can't link you to it. If you want to get your hands on this gorgeous baby, I suggest you call your local Sephora and see if they've got it in stock, because this is a whole lotta eyeshadow for $55.

 Look at all of those colors! There's a great mix of brights, darks and neutrals, so you can basically get any sort of look you want out of one palette. Notice how they're all paired up? Each pair of colors looks great together, and you can layer them over each other for cool color-shift looks. Of course you can mix and match, too, but I think this is a great concept for helping people who are new to makeup or stuck in a rut and need some inspiration for how to punch up their look. It's also good when you're in a hurry. No more deciding "Which colors do I combine today?" just flip open this bad girl and pick the pair that you're feeling that day.

For Desert Shakedown I combined Bird Cage and Gunner for this beautiful green look. All I added was a bit of ivory shadow under my brows, then some black and green eye liner. It was so easy! For another show, I did Holy Bible and Oddfellow, which looked great with my black troupe costume. Anyway, Gunner is my new favorite eye shadow because it's a lovely true green with lots of glitter. It looks like dragonscales or something equally magical.

So far, the colors have really good pigmentation and are easy to blend and layer, and I didn't get much glitter fallout. However, I did notice that they seemed to have worn off in a couple of spots at the end of the night. Both times that I applied them I was in a bit of a hurry, and I didn't use makeup setting spray, so I'm going to experiment to see if I can make them last longer.

Would you like to see more of the colors from this palette? Comment with which pair you'd like me to try next! I'll do the most popular request next week, and maybe others too if I have the time. I'll even provide hand-swatches, which I forgot to do today.

One of my favorite eyeshadows!

 This may come as a huge surprise to most of you, but I actually have a favorite eyeshadow color that isn't green! In fact, I probably wear this shade more often than any other color in my collection, because it's such a good versatile neutral. It's Legendary Black from MAC's Pro Longwear eye shadow line, and the website describes it as a "warm almost black" which is a pretty good description but fails to mention the lovely golden sheen.

This is my go-to shade when I want to do a smoky eye. I like it because it's softer than a true black and the warm tones pair well with the olivey greens colors that I use so often. It's also easy to build it from a light color to a really deep blackish shade, depending on how intense I want to be. I've worn it numerous times for all sorts of dance events and it's held up perfectly.

 Not the most impressive hand swatch, my skin is pretty dry and I literally misplaced my primer potion (as in I took it out of my train case and 5 minutes later I had no idea where it was), but it gives you the general idea.

By the way, if you have the Urban Decay Book of Shadows Volume IV, "Cobra" is pretty similar to this shade and actually looks better as a hand swatch (it's on the left in the above image), so I might give it a try the next time I do a smoky eye.

You can see how versatile Legendary Black is in these two photos. In the top image I've used it lightly to add just a touch of smoke to this woodlands-faerie inspired look for my photo shoot with Liora K. Whereas in the second image, I went really dark for my performance at the LVBDI. These images show just two of the many, many times I've used this great color, so it was about time I reviewed it!

Did I strike gold with Maybelline?

It's funny, because I'm reviewing gold eye shadow. WOW is that really gold.

 Following up on last week's affordable e.l.f. palette, I thought I'd review another drugstore line that I'd heard pretty good things about... Maybelline's Color Tattoo eye shadows. I picked up two different styles... the new Pure Pigments in Forest Fatale (it's as if they marketed it directly at me!), and the 24 Hour Metal in Gold Rush.

Besides sounding like a music festival, Color Tattoo 24 Hour Metal is a gel shadow. I was hoping that Gold Rush would go on thick and give me an insane pop of gold, but instead it was like crackled gold leaf. It's very pretty, and I think it would be great for an Ancient Egypt-themed look, paired with cobalt and black eyeliner. It's also nice for a magical faerie look. But it doesn't necessarily have enough impact for the big stage -- you'd be better off with gold glitter. Save this one for the restaurants and other small stages.

Pure Pigments are your typical loose pigments. It went on nicely and stayed on well but when I did find a ton of fall-out on my counter from when I was applying it! I applied it dry with a nice fluffy brush. It would probably be more intense if applied wet. This is another one that is definitely more suited for when you're going to be up close with your audience.

 As always, I applied these colors over UD's Primer Potion and then used a couple spritzes of setting spray to keep it in place through two hours of dance class. Surprisingly, even though it was a hot muggy night and we worked really hard, I didn't have any color loss. I thought about leaving it on overnight to see if 24 Hour Metal lived up to its name, but I didn't want to chance getting mascara smudges on my pillowcase.

Bonus nail polish review! Maybelline's Color Show line of nail polish seems to have a few trendy options. Mystic Green is part of the holographic collection and is one of those awesome color-shift iridescent colors. It shifts through gold, green and blue and is GORGEOUS! This is two coats with a base and top coat. I've been wearing it for a couple of days and it's held up well -- except for the weird marks where I fell asleep on top of my hand. It turns out that those drying drops will still leave your polish soft for at least an hour or so. Whoops. Anyway, I think these holographic colors are great for performances, and they have a pinky-purply one for those of you who don't wear green costumes every time you perform. And at around $3/bottle it's a lot more affordable than similar colors from other brands.

Not getting enough cosmetics reviews? Go like my fan page on Facebook. I've started posting bonus mini-reviews throughout the week as I try things that don't quite fit in the blog.

Are those e.l.f. palettes any good?

 We've all seen these at Target or other department stores, right? The super-affordable e.l.f palettes with their really intense colors. I'd heard that they were actually not bad, so at only $6 I decided to take a chance and pick up the Little Black Beauty Book "night edition."

Look at those colors! You'll have to forgive me for not hand-swatching them, but it would have to go all the way up to my elbow at the very least. I like this palette because it has a great range of colors running from light to dark, plenty of neutrals, some mattes and some sparkles. The individual pans are pretty small, but hey, it's $6.

I'm a bit iffy on the packaging. It's cute, compact, and easy to carry, but it doesn't always close securely. If you want to just throw this in your purse, I'd wrap some ribbon or elastic around it or maybe tape it closed, just to be on the safe side. The outside color is actually very much like a thinner version of a hardback book cover. It dents and scratches very easily, so it won't stay pretty, but again, it only cost $6, so what do you expect?

On Tuesday I decided to do a nice daytime look with two colors from the palette, a nice soft bronze and medium green. It held up for two hours of dance and some shopping and driving around. This is actually how it looked at the end of the night. Not bad!

But we're here to talk about its suitability for performance makeup, so how about a look at some of the more vibrant colors?

Yeah! Colors! Turquoise, green, and blue, with a light shimmery neutral along my brow bone. I was surprised by how well-pigmented these brights were. I'd just like to point out that I managed to put together a better emerald eye look with this cheap department store palette than with the much more expensive Sephora eye shadows I bought earlier this year.

Sorry about the up-the-nose shot. That's all eyeshadow from this palette, including using the green as liner. Well, I did add just a touch of some sparkly UD shadow over the teal because I wanted some glitter. There's also some green mascara, because hey, why not wear green mascara for daytime wear? It's just sitting there in my train case, I might as well use it.

Despite using primer potion and makeup-setting spray, I did have some color loss after two hours of dance class, but most of the color was still there. I like these colors enough that I'm going to try again, maybe apply a little more and pat it in better, or try it wet.

I feel like these colors probably wouldn't hold up well to dancing all night, and they probably aren't intense enough for big stage makeup, but if you're just doing a single number at a hafla or recital, you'll be really happy with these. You could probably even use them for a restaurant gig if you're not prone to sweaty-face. I'd definitely recommend this palette to the newbie dancer who hasn't previously worn colorful makeup and doesn't want to spend a fortune at Sephora or the MAC counter. It would also be perfect for those days when you want to experiment with some of the crazy looks you see on-line... there's enough different colors to play with, and then when you figure out a look you want to use for the big stage, you can go out and buy more expensive, hardier versions of the colors.

Sephora Impulse Buys

 Have I admitted yet that I come from a family that self-medicates through retail therapy? For at least three generations of my Mom's side, when we're feeling down we shop. But it doesn't just have to be sadness, sometimes it's 100 degrees out and your house is not sufficiently cool and you're bored of sweating at the computer, so you drag your husband off to the mall to enjoy some air conditioning and window shopping. Then you're like "Well let's go to Sephora because I want to see if they have the new UD lipstick" and then when they don't, you just wander around because you want to buy something. Let's pretend that I only bought these two somethings and that there's not also a little bag full of nail polish minis (in my defense, they were only a dollar each).

Did you know that Sephora is clearing out their entire Sephora by OPI line of nail polish? I'm curious to see what they replace it with. I really wanted to buy about a zillion colors, but I settled for "Is She For Reel?" which my husband pointed out. See, there was a reason to drag him along, his eye is caught by different things than mine. I go for the same greens that I already have three variations of, and he notices the super-sparkly silver with iridescent micro-glitter. It's hard to describe this color, it's kind of like... magical pyrite. Does that make sense? How about... silver titanium coated drusy? Maybe? Well anyway, I totally recommend going to your local Sephora to see if it's still in-stock, or ordering on-line, because this color is sweet. You know those weekends when you have multiple gigs and each one has a totally different colored costume? Well, this is the super-sparkly neutral that will go with all of them. I'm wearing two coats and it actually looks more opaque in person than it does in the picture.

 Now, what is this interesting little bottle and why is it purple instead of green? Have I been replaced by an alien pod person? Would I tell you if I was? Stop worrying about that and go check out Light Storm Liquid Shadow. It's shiny! This is the Smoked Grape color which isn't on the website, oddly enough.

 LOOK AT HOW SHINY IT IS! It has this amazing shimmery color-shift effect. You can see why I had to buy it even though it doesn't come in green. Of the three colors available, Chris and I felt that Smoked Grape had the best shine and color shift (yes, my man is confident enough in his masculinity to offer an opinion on purple eyeshadow).

Thankfully we were wearing our all-black costumes for Open Stage last night, so I had the perfect opportunity to get purple on my eyes. I think this color wears really well on my skin tone. I did a smokey eye with my favorite almost-black MAC eyeshadow, a cool purple I found in one of my UD palettes, and then some NYX glitter to keep it from looking too bruise-y. Add some black gel liner and some black mascara, plus a little maroon liner under the eye (not visible here due to lashes) and I'm good to go! Style note: Sometimes if you wear purple eyeshadow and red lipstick, it either clashes weirdly or looks too Red Hat Lady-ish, so I forewent my usual red and instead applied the light metallic plummy color from one of my Blast Flipsticks (hahahaha) and dabbed it with a bit of the same glitter as my eyes to tie it together. I think it was a good choice.

Oh yeah. I guess I should actually review the product and talk about application! It comes with a fuzzy wand applicator like some lip glosses. I put it on my lid with that and then blended it out with my eye. Of course I applied it over my trusty UD Primer Potion and then used a little UD makeup setting spray to hold everything in place. I am happy to say that at the end of the night, after several hours of wear, a lot of dancing and some sweating, it still looked great! It had not collected in my crease at all, and the color had not faded.

I am giving this a strong recommendation for my fellow dancers! It looks great, it's easy to apply, and it wears well! Those of you who wear a lot of purple or pink will really love this specific color. I think I'm going to go pick up the Caramel Cream as well because while it has less color-shift it's still pretty shiny and would go well with a couple of costumes I've got in the works. Also, if you love green like I do, please join me in lobbying Sephora to make this product available in either a green-gold shift or a green-blue shift inspired by jewel beetle elytra. That would make my life complete!

Never enough eyeshadow!

 That's right, I am reviewing more eye makeup because I can never have enough! What's more, it's GREEN eye makeup. I've been told that the eye can differentiate between more shades of green than any other color. Isn't that cool? I try to test this fact by owning all of the green beads and eye shadows and costumes that I can afford.

Today's products are the new Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadow in Zodiac and Make Up For Ever Eyeshadow in 171 (Iridescent Acid Green). These two colors look great together and I think I will be combining them for a lot of different looks!

 I decided to get fancy with the hand-swatch this time! From left to right: no primer, dry application; no primer, wet application; primer, dry application; primer, wet application. One light later of each color. Also, I need to moisturize. Yikes.

 Before I show you the look I created, I'd like to take a moment for a little PSA. Do not, under any circumstances, ever get UD's 24/7 liquid liner in your tearducts. Oh my goodness it hurt like a motherbeast. And then I had eyeliner everywhere from screwing up my eye from the pain. What a mess!

So now let's look at the other side of my face! Ahhhh, much better! I think when I use these colors together in the future I may put them over another color, and I will definitely blend them out so it's less of a harlequin look (it wasn't so delineated before I decided that I needed another layer or two of glitter).

After first putting down a layer of primer potion, I applied the MUFE wet with a loose eyeshadow brush, and following UD's advice, the Moondust was applied with my finger (also a little wet). Using my finger I had pretty much 0 fallout. I then took this look over to a spin jam and spun my fire fans. Tiny bit of fall-out but otherwise this makeup has stayed in place pretty well.

I am really excited about this Moondust shadow! It's such a pretty dark green that will go well with a lot of colors I already have, and it's super glittery. I want to apply it over my entire eye and then line it with metallic emerald gel liner. Plus it is compatible with the UD "Build Your Own Palette" tins!

I think that both of these colors will see a lot of use from me and I will be picking up other hues from these collections. The eyeliner, on the other hand, is on probation!

Beauty Blogging For Bellydancers with Special Guest Liora K!

 

Are you guys excited? Because I'm excited! In case you didn't read about it earlier this week, this past weekend I went over to Liora K's studio and we teamed up to bring you a special edition of Beauty Blogging for Bellydancers! Liora did my makeup and took the photos. I provided the makeup and the words! Together we are an unstoppable beauty blogging team! Above you can see all the things that we put on my face, minus the concealer/powder, and the lipstick which somehow escaped.

 

 Here's my mostly naked face (with the usual primer/foundation/powder routine I discussed last week) ready to get greenified! We decided that since I wanted to review the new eyeshadow pencil and green lip tar I bought last week, the theme would be "How to do a monochrome green look without looking dead" because there's nothing worse than looking dead when you're not trying to be a zombie bellydancer.

We started with the Aqua Shadow Waterproof Eye Shadow Pencil from Make Up For Ever in color 8E. It's a really nice bluey-teal-green, a great compliment to the emerald shades that are in this year. On one eye you can see the basic shape she colored in, and the other eye shows how she blended it out with a pointy eyeshadow brush. This will serve as the base for the rest of the look.

Make sure to blend it out to where you want it pretty quickly, as it will set into place nicely and then if you decide you want to blend it further, you'll have to add more. Once it's there, it stays nicely! I didn't test this product out with dancing, but I did wear it all day and it stayed perfectly. 

 But wait... How about we layer some other colors on top? A little shimmery green from Belle Pierre (a review of their cosmetics is forthcoming)...

 ..and some matte teal from Urban Decay and a little light green from NYX makes for a nice gradated teal-green look.

 I'm liking it so far!

Let's finish those eyes with some golden olive liquid eyeliner from Urban Decay and that green mascara from the Pantone Emerald collection. Now those are some green eyes! Liora also defined my brows with some brow powder she had, and they're looking quite nice, don't you think? Now onto the lips!

 Wait, Liora, you want to put concealer WHERE? On my mouth?

 Oh, ok! It looks kind of like I have a weird milk mustache going on here. Lining your lips with concealer helps keep creamy lipsticks from wandering around your face, and it also makes your lip color pop a bit by slightly lightening the area around your lips. Pro tip from Liora K!

Blend it out smoothly so it no longer looks like a milk mustache. You can also do this before you apply your foundation if you're worried about the concealer looking too obvious.

 Now what to do with my lips? It's really hard to do all-green on lips, it can really wash you out and that's how you get the dead look! So we used that lovely warm brown Minx blastflipstick (hahaha, that name never gets old), then dabbed a bit of Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tar in Power Plant on top of it and blended it out. This gives a lovely iridescent green sheen, while still maintaining the warm tones that keep my face looking alive.

 After warming my face up some more with some blush for a youthful glow, Liora decided we could add even MORE GREEN to my lips, and since MORE GREEN is a rule I live by, we went with it! A little dab of pearly green pigment from NYX adds an extra pop to the center of my lips, but as you can see, I don't look the least bit dead. In fact, I look pretty full of life and ready to go out for dinner!

Speaking of which, I did go out to dinner with this look on, and that lip tar stayed put! By the time I went to bed, I had eaten a meal, drank through a straw, from a glass, and from a sport-top water bottle and I still had plenty of green on my lips. This is a really durable product, and I am looking forward to trying it out in a more "normal" color to see if it can be my new go-to lip option.

 Let's have one more look at those pretty eyes. Ahhhh! Love the contrast between the green eyes and the pink of the blush. Of course, if you wanted to make this look even more green, for instance, if you're doing a character piece as a faerie, or mermaid, you could brush a little light iridescent green mineral shadow across your cheeks for extra sparkle. You could also line your waterline with green, or bring more green under your eyes. You could even color your eyebrows green, though that would probably look weird if you're not also wearing a green wig. Just make sure to really balance it out and try to stick with warm colors that bring life to your face.

Thank you again Liora for doing my makeup and taking all these great photos! You rock, lady! If you all aren't already familiar with her photography work, which ranges from fashion shoots to weddings to feminist art, you should definitely visit Liora K Photography and see what you're missing!

PS: If you've got any questions about the specific colors used, leave a comment and I'll dig into my train case for brands and item numbers and whatnot.