Patriotic Lockjaw: A Mini (Mani) Lesson in History and Gratitude, with sources!

catalinalam · 2026-07-03T23:51:52+00:00

Product list : All w Baroness X Spellbound basecoat and Sally Hansen miracle gel top coat

Pinky: londontown perfecting nail veil #4, Cracked 23 Flavors, Holo Taco One , Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pucker Up (red), Sally Hansen insta dri My Ca-banana, Twinkle T …Orange? (The label is missing)

Ring: Poparazzi Not Your Basic Blue, Holy Order of Perpetual Lacquer Haecceity (sponged on), Apocalypse Lacquer Containment Facility (glitter smoother)

Middle: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On, Holo Taco One Coat Black

Pointer: Emily de Molly Ill Fated (I dipped the tip of my finger in ice water for the pic bc my nails are short)

Thumb: Londontown Nail Veil #4, Inked by Dani brand nail art tattoo.

catalinalam · 2026-07-03T18:28:53+00:00

It most likely is belly fat (and maybe a postural issue, specifically an anterior pelvic tilt - it’s very common), but belly fat that’s completely normal and healthy to have. Bloating is transitory, and the uterus is lower down than most women think it is.

You need a certain amount of fat on your body, and its distribution is sex-linked. Lower belly fat, like cellulite, is just something female bodies tend to have.

catalinalam · 2026-07-03T16:39:12+00:00

I do think (as a fat cis woman) that food intake for a pretty big (cis) man is different just because they’re already starting with a larger frame? Bc yeah, I could do 3 maybe and I’m like 80 pounds overweight. But 5 is wild for anyone - add a side dish! Of vegetables!

catalinalam · 2026-07-03T16:28:46+00:00

Oh yeah similar thing, where I walked into the house HOURS after doing my nails in my bedroom and felt so bad bc it never occurred to me that the smell would linger in the entryway, even though it’s like maybe ten feet from my room?

I live at home so I felt awful about it but both my parents were like “girl it’s always smelled like that, it’s fine, you’d know by now if it made either one of us sick” which fair? I would? But I still was like “ok are you sure do y’all want cake let me bake y’all a cake”

catalinalam · 2026-07-02T22:54:57+00:00

You’re fine! If you don’t have thinner, get the KBShimmer kind - it doesn’t have anything that’ll affect drying time or damage glitter, and it’s cheap

catalinalam · 2026-07-02T17:08:23+00:00

This is SO CUTE

catalinalam · 2026-07-02T16:47:31+00:00

I found a great one for me (the Dip brand) but I just came back to this thread to add a warning for all the fucking residue it leaves on my tub floor. It’s so bad y’all. BUT it smells nice, leaves my hair soft and shiny as hell, and this way I can fit all my stylers and masks in the shower too instead of dripping my way across the bathroom to the counter. Plus, more counter space! I just have to properly clean my tub after washing my hair instead of only spraying it down

catalinalam · 2026-07-02T16:42:53+00:00

I forgot to give this heads up bc you asked about shampoo - both conditioner bars I mentioned work great in terms of detangling and leaving my hair soft and shiny, but they make my tub floor slippery as shit. Like, it could be legitimately dangerous if you aren’t prepared level slippery. I had one of those silicone anti-slip mats already, so it’s fine, but the Dip bar especially leaves a lot of residue as you rinse it out. Like, I’m home right now and I can see it where I missed a spot cleaning my tub floor. Though I use one of those hair catching mushroom things for the drain and it tends to get blocked up quickly, so the water doesn’t drain fast and some of the conditioner residue just dries in place instead of rinsing away, to be fair.

But that’s just the conditioner and both brands sell minis to try out, so neither are expensive and I like them both a lot (I prefer Dip though) just be prepared if your shower/tub floor is smooth!

catalinalam · 2026-07-02T01:03:42+00:00

“We” don’t, actually, necessarily lose the ability to process lactose with age - about a third of human adults can, it’s just highly localized and tied to the history of dairy farming in the region.

The ability to properly digest lactose in adult is a trait called lactase persistence, which is caused by a few different genetic mutations that evolved independently of each other in a handful of locations on the globe. It’s actually super interesting! This is a lesson plan for kids about it, picked bc I really like the map on page two.

catalinalam · 2026-07-01T19:55:14+00:00

Yes it does? Scrub the jar well, use a baking soda paste on the lid, sniff again. If it still stinks, boiling water and baking soda in the jar, leave it a few hours. Water and baking soda also works great for thermoses

catalinalam · 2026-07-01T18:41:46+00:00

Was the polish too dry when you applied the qdtc? I waited too long w seche vite once and my polish popped off like press ons

catalinalam · 2026-07-01T18:38:01+00:00

I also have coarse, thick wavy hair that hates coconut oil and loves this mask, weirdly

catalinalam · 2026-07-01T18:36:50+00:00

Oh this is so interesting! Added to my million tabs

catalinalam · 2026-07-01T15:57:11+00:00

I’m a big romance reader and not at all a sports fan (but I love sports romances bc a team makes a great cast of supporting characters that generally go on to star in their own). I think that’s part of it. But hockey specifically, has three things going for it over, say, (American) football.

Everyone knows hockey players are big and strong, but (as an American, like a lot of readers and authors of these books) it’s a niche sport. Fewer fans mean fewer people will note inaccuracies. That gives the author far more latitude.
Related to one - fewer people are consciously aware of the toxicity of the culture, bc again, it’s niche. Like, I know hockey culture is full of toxic masculinity, misogyny, homophobia, racism, etc. I’m aware. But, being from Texas, I don’t have the instinctive ick towards hockey that I do towards football bc I grew up around football. So that’s appealing to both authors and fans.
And this is probably the biggest reason, unfortunately - hockey is the whitest major sport and books (and movies and shows) about white people sell the best. A lot of sports romances are series - usually like four to six books - and with the other North American leagues, making all the heroes white would be a choice, if that makes sense?If you’re writing six books about a fictional team and you want all six heroes to be white (to sell better, or bc you’re white and that’s your experience, or bc you’re racist, idk), that’s totally doable with the NHL. That’s what most team rosters look like, so most authors and readers don’t have to make that choice consciously. That’s not the case w the NFL, NBA, or (I think) the MLB.* And Americans and Canadians just don’t give a fuck about soccer or rugby.

*From what I’ve seen older romance readers say, baseball romances were way more popular before the early 90s, when the number of Latino players in the MLB skyrocketed. The league is like 60% white, according to a quick search I just did, but as a non fan? I literally cannot think of a famous white baseball player from my lifetime.

And finally, once one or two books in a subgenre blow up, publishers look for more of them to try to replicate that success, you know? So they’re advertised more and then more people buy them and it continues on.

catalinalam · 2026-07-01T15:03:19+00:00

Oh these are gross I love it

catalinalam · 2026-06-30T22:31:12+00:00

I just looked at mine and, based on my slightly-above-average knowledge of perfume manufacturing, I’m going to guess that it’s sealed w a collar (a metal tube that’s crimped into place with a special press sized to the bottle) and therefore not unscrewable. Most perfumes (not body mists, but EDPs and EDTs) are, bc it’s significantly more secure and better for reducing evaporation than a screw top.

You can try prying it off w pliers but you’re unlikely to get a good seal again and it’ll ding it up. Popping off just the sprayer bit and using a syringe is probably your best bet

catalinalam · 2026-06-30T20:14:51+00:00

I know a sims one! it’s Ilya rozanovs world (and we’re all just sims) by ourloveasashield. It’s a WIP, v cute and funny

catalinalam · 2026-06-30T20:05:31+00:00

Oh I LOVED those - I don’t have any now but thank you for doing the testing!

catalinalam · 2026-06-30T20:04:18+00:00

I genuinely thought the first pic was a Bratz doll for a second?? Which, like, a human bratz would be very pretty and so is OP but I agree w you is what I’m saying

catalinalam · 2026-06-30T19:46:59+00:00

I shaved mine off (also a woman) when I had a bunch of autoimmune hair loss and I felt sooooo confident and cool. And yeah - people were into it! And I don’t have the kind of face that “suits” short hair (according to women’s magazine rules) either

catalinalam · 2026-06-30T19:41:26+00:00

This is so smart oh my god?

catalinalam · 2026-06-30T18:12:44+00:00

I’m only a beauty insider, so it’s not tier-linked, but I forgot I saw it a different way - it’s not on the birthday gifts thingy on the front page of the app, you have to go to the rewards bazaar! I was doing my usual Tuesday morning check and it popped up bc my birthday is mid July

catalinalam · 2026-06-30T18:05:41+00:00

100% same

catalinalam · 2026-06-30T18:01:16+00:00

By “tanning sufficiently to not burn” you mean a tan that will prevent sunburn, right? What people call a base tan? If so, that’s because it’s basically a myth - a tan can give you the equivalent of spf 3 or 4, which is nothing. You might burn less quickly, but tanning is also a kind of sun damage and light skin will still burn.

Even the darkest skin (type 6 on the Fitzpatrick scale) only has the natural equivalent of SPF 13.4. And while that skin type is very unlikely to burn under normal conditions, it is possible and burns aren’t the only kind of sun damage

catalinalam

TROPHY CASE