One of my most favorite makeup products in the world is Big Beautiful Eyes from Benefit. The packaging looks a little frumpy but the product is amazing.

Those for us who are all thumbs will find it unexpectedly easy to create a beautiful, very discreetly enhanced eye with this palette. When I’m at the swimming pool, I use this palette to go from a “Disheveled Swimmer” look to an “Esteemed Academic” look in two minutes.

This product is expensive but it is so good that I can never resist the temptation. I’m on my 3 box and I know it will not be the last one.

I’m not a huge fan of Benefit because their products always seem a little superfluous. This palette, though, is a definite success.

P.S. The same eye-shadow palette can be found in this cheaper product by Benefit but I don’t know much about the other products in this kit.

According to this quiz on American pronunciations, I’m either from Pembroke Pines or from Fort Lauderdale. These are two towns in Florida that are located closely to each other but that I have never visited.

Of course, it was unfair to the quiz to test it on an immigrant.

What I find very curious is that American people do not identify with their states. Even those who have lived in the same state their entire life do not identify with it. Whenever I try to start a conversation about a specific state with one of its inhabitants, I encounter nothing but puzzled boredom.

Instead, people identify with their regions. Regional stereotypes are a topic that always attracts an unflagging and I’d even say hungry sort of interest. And this interest is independent of people’s social class or profession. If you are at a party and there is an uncomfortable silence, just say, “So I traveled to the West Coast recently and, ugh, it’s so different!”

After that, you don’t have to worry about people having a good time for at least 40 minutes. The stereotypes will fly.

It’s seems like “United Regions of America” would make for a more realistic name.