"Abracadabra," Fenty cream blush, and calling your reps
March 2025 Round-Up
Welcome to your March 2025 Bi-Monthly Round-Up!
Truthfully, January and February were a shitshow in my life. I’m glad they’re behind me and that I only have to relive them in the form of this round-up
In case you’re new here, every two months I put together a list of all of my favorites across a handful of categories, including what I’ve been listening to, watching, reading, purchasing, and more.
Feel free to use the comments section to share your thoughts or let me know some of your own recs from the same time period. And if you’ve been wondering about the general state of me and my work, I crafted a new intro post for the first time in a long time that you can read here.
Music I’ve Been Vibing With
“All My Friends Are Hot” – Beth McCarthy. A catchy anthem to scream-sing with your hot queer besties! This track’s only flaw is that it’s too short (and apparently smoking cigarettes is cool again?).
“Abracadabra” – Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga doing Lady Gaga things is for sure one of the highlights of the first quarter of 2025. Technically, the whole album didn’t release until this month, so this round up’s time period doesn’t cover it. But if you’re wondering, I also love “How Bad Do U Want Me” and the MJ-inspired “Shadow Of A Man.”
“you broke me first” – Our Last Night. This is a cover of a Tate McRae song that popped up on a random workout playlist, and I like it so much better than the original. Some good emo/screamo nostalgia.
“Heart Attack - Rock Version” – Demi Lovato. This has been out for a year, and it’s still taking up space in my brain rent free. It just goes so hard.
What I’ve Been Watching
When life is busy and exhausting, we tend to turn to reality TV because it’s easier to digest than shows with an actual plot. That’s been true so far this year.
I wrote up a whole thing about The Traitors in a past round-up when Jessie and I first got into it, and we recently finished Season 3. The show and Alan Cummings as the host remain delightful (Lala fan for life!!!), though I wish Bob the Drag Queen had lasted longer.
Jessie also insisted we start watching Deal or No Deal Island. Had we ever watched normal Deal or No Deal in our lives prior? Nope! It combines the gameshow with a reality TV challenge concept (with a cast that is a mix of reality TV royalty and regular people) and is surprisingly entertaining.
Not so entertaining? Love Is Blind Season 8. An absolute trashfire filled with trash conservative men. Can’t recommend.
The only non-reality TV show we made time for was No Good Deed, a dark comedy from Liz Feldman, the creator of Dead to Me. I felt like it could have been an episode or two shorter. However, I thought it picked up in the finale, and I enjoyed seeing Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano in these roles (plus Kate Moennig basically playing an offshoot of Shane again).
For My Book Nerds
2025 reading so far has been fairly mid. Due to the aforementioned life madness, I’ve almost exclusively been reading in audiobook format because I’ve been too exhausted at night to pick up a physical book. The last three books I read I felt were overhyped, but I’ll share them in case you’re interested:
That’s Not My Name* by Megan Lally. This one was all over ThrillerTok, but I could not get into the writing. The tones of the alternating POV chapters were so different that it was as if they came from two separate versions of the book, and there are several points where you have to suspend disbelief to keep from throwing the book across the room (or, in my case, my AirPods).
Our Infinite Fates* by Laura Steven. This is a YA romantasy, which is not a usual genre for me. I loved the concept! I thought the execution could have been better, especially the central love story. If you’re going to tell me two people are fated to be lovers, I need you to back that up with showing me why so I can *feel* it. Some pretty writing, though, and it did make me cry due to the themes of love, death, and grief that I’ve been wading through personally lately.
Keep It In The Family* by John Marrs. The twists were okay. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single character to root for in this book, so I felt pretty apathetic about all of it.
Products I Recommend
Here are a few items I’ve purchased in the past couple of months that I’m glad I did:
I’ve been wearing makeup more rarely lately (I spend a lot more time at home in the winter), so my makeup purchases have almost exclusively been refills of things that are already a part of my routine. I made an exception to buy the Rosé Latte shade of Fenty’s Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Blush. I already knew I liked this buttery blush because I have several other shades, and the Rosé Latte is so pretty on my skintone. I also got Peach Face, and it’s gorg.
I love pretty bookends, and we have a ton of them! But there were some spots on our bookcases where it was impractical to have more bookends, so books kept sliding and falling down. I purchased a set of these acrylic minimalist bookends* to fix that problem, and they have been great.
Do you have rough, nasty feet? Let me introduce you to the Nuvé Silk 3 Pro. I kept getting ads for this callus remover device, and the reviews were so good I decided to buy it even though I feared it was a scam. I’m happy to report the reviews and the photos are telling the truth!! Jessie’s feet were in rough shape, and this thing made them sooooo much smoother. Way better than the nail salon cheese grater.
I’ve been on a wavy hair journey for the last couple of years, and in that time, I’ve tried out a lot of tools, products, and techniques as I continue to refine my routine. Two additions I absolutely love are (1) the Bounce Define EdgeLift Brush—I use the brush part to distribute product, the edge part to separate pieces, and the end to curl my hair around; and (2) the OUAI hair oil, which I use to scrunch out my waves once they’re dry and control frizz. I have fine hair, and it’s a super light oil that smells amazing and doesn’t weigh my strands down.
I make tea almost daily with loose leaf tea, and the tea infusers I’ve been using the last several years were looking worse for wear. I went on a hunt for new ones, and I settled on getting a few of these stainless steel Fenshine ones*. I love the size—they are larger than my old ones and really let the leaves expand—and the holes are nice and tiny. That can make them a little annoying to clean, but I prefer that to having a bunch of tea bits floating around in my mug.
Recipes
I know winter is almost over, but if it’s still cold where you are and you want something cozy, this Roasted Broccoli Gruyere Cheese Soup was incredible. Pro tip: You can get big blocks of gruyere from Costco at a way better value than the regular grocery store! Also, the recipe title mentions brown butter croutons but then doesn’t say anything else about them, so I searched for a separate recipe to make a batch of brown butter croutons to add on top. I seasoned mine with sumac, and they were delicious.
When my nephew mentioned brownies on a recent visit, it made both me and Jessie crave them. I’d been meaning to try this brownie recipe for a while, and they did not disappoint! You can take out the cinnamon if you want them to be fully traditional. High-altitude changes I made were adding a third egg, taking out 1 tbsp of sugar, and using an oven temp of 375.
Miscellaneous
If you need an easy way to call your reps, I’ve been loving the 5 Calls app. I’m not affiliated with them in any way, I just appreciate how easy they make it to do something that a lot of people find nerve-wracking. I wrote a whole post about it here.
For the Peloton peeps, I did Cody’s Kesha ride and PRed the shit out of it in true millennial fashion. The best music to get your heart pumping for sure!
That’s it for this round-up, y’all! If you have questions or want to chat about anything I included, don’t hesitate to comment or reach out via email. You can also find all of the past round-ups you may have missed here.
Queerly yours,
Shohreh
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