Alyson Said What?

Anyone who knows me is probably aware of my penchant for bright lipstick, especially red - the more obnoxious the better. My personal makeup look is generally simple and neutral, making whatever ship-directing lip shade I happen to be wearing the main focus. Since I started my nursing career, I've had to tone down the lips a lot - it's just not appropriate to rock my best pillarbox pout in the hospital. This means I've had to venture into foreign territory: pinks and nudes! Never one to turn my nose up at drugstore makeup, I picked up a tube of L'Oreal Paris lipstick in a shade called Jlo's Nude. It's part of the Color Riche Collection Prive. Jlo's nude is a dainty, earthy nude that leans ever-so-slightly pink. The formula is super moisturising and has a subtle shine.  One risk for this type of formula is the amount of slip. I've not been wearing it with any lip liner, but fortunately haven't run into any issues with feathering.  ...

Over the past month I've had the pleasure of being filmed and interviewed for two documentaries. The first was for web feature production company, Buttergun TV. The film will be aiming to break stereotypes about Jewish people as part of a wider anti-bullying movement. I was particularly honoured to star in this documentary as someone having to cope with living with the rising antisemitism and virulent anti-Israel attitudes in the UK. Director Joshua Hine and producer Joshua Fineman (double-trouble Joshes!) want the film to focus on personal qualities other than 'Jewishness', not to detract from the importance of Jewish identity, but to dissolve stigma. Too often when people discover that I'm Jewish, I'm met with statements such as: 'But you don't look Jewish!' 'But you're so hard-working!' 'You're not rich, though!' or even - wait for it - 'I don't believe you!' Queue me wanting to scream. As much as I ...

The completion of my degree came in a bunch of small climaxes: The submission of my dissertation; the result of my dissertation; being offered a real job; the end of my final clinical placement; receiving notification of being admitted onto the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Register; and then actually starting aforementioned real job. Now, Britain loves its pomp and circumstance, the intensity of which has been a bit strange and amusing for me and my casual American sensibilities. But, being a hopeless (and shameless) romantic, I'm more than happy to indulge and to be indulged. For example, my heart definitely did a little joyous squeeze when my colleague and I were given our completion badges from our university. Pretty, n'est-ce pas? I will definitely be a slightly overly-keen new nurse for awhile,  wearing that on my uniform. Speaking of uniforms, putting on my RN uniform for the first time was another jarring milestone. Sky blue is not normally my c...

Deep breath. After the chaos of my nursing degree and a summer full of challenges and changes, I feel a mixture of trepidation and optimism. Life has done one of its shifts, for better or for worse - though hopefully mostly the former - and it's time to dive in. I would like this blog to be a small sanctuary for me on the internet. Most of you, dear readers, probably know me from Tumblr and Twitter. As much as I value both of those social media outlets, their inherent cultures can be fraught with sociopolitical fire and other sundry drama. My intention for this wee place is to talk about my professional growth as I enter my career as a registered nurse, to post reviews about cosmetics, clothing, jewellery, films, books, theatre, and other musings on such things that help up get through life. Or things that make it harder. An open journal. A scrapbook to share.