Time

Have you wrinkles in it? Terrible, I know.

You probably don’t, yet that doesn’t explain why I see you hovering around the anti aging display. You see, I have a bit of a bone to pick with skincare companies. Somewhere along the line it was decided that perhaps for the sake of universal design, ease of use, blah blah blah, tester units should have age ranges printed under their product.

If you’ve followed along with previous posts, you know that wrinkles and gravity don’t discriminate whether you’re 16 or 60. Wrinkles are not something you can outsmart by pre-emptive strikes with moisturizers labelled 50+.

But if I start now, I can avoid the aging experienced by the women in those categories!

If that were true, we’d all be Stepford wives. The reality is that no matter how many ‘age prevention’ products the industry throws at us, nothing prevents the onslaught of visible aging better than diligent, basic skincare. (And of course a healthy lifestyle – but you don’t need me to tell you that.) Don’t you ever wonder why the woman in her 60′s who claims she’s used Olay since she borrowed it from her mothers dresser as a teenager, has such smooth, glowing skin for her age? It’s not in the water – err…cream. It’s diligence my dears.

Find the right products to love your skin, and it will love you back for the rest of your life.

-A

Lip Service

A few quick tips for your lips, and a little bit of Estee Lauder love. Alliteration and rhyming in one sentence? Oh goodness.

You may have already guessed that this article may lean to the slightly biased side of things. You would be correct. I can’t recall when it began, but somewhere along the line I opened my makeup bag and counted 57 lipsticks. I don’t mean to say they are all the same brand, but I lay the blame at the candy coloured tester unit of Electric Lipcolor Lipsticks. Remember those? Ranging from leftover 90′s throwback shades, to obnoxious orange grandma shades. I guess those are the same thing. Spending the next several years in the midst of this love affair, it always puzzled me that Estee Lauder was, until recently, considered a brand for the over 50 set. And the pigments and textures have only improved since. Yes, there are plenty of other lovely lipsticks on the market, and it truly is based on personal preference. You can wax poetic to me about MAC pigment and longevity all you want, but at the end of the day, my lips are still dry and cracked. To each their own.

Moving on! A few things you should know:

1. If you don’t want to use lipliner, you can brush your liquid foundation right over your lips.

2. Don’t want to use lipstick at all? Find a creamy, non-drying lipliner and fill in your lips entirely. Optional: Follow with a little gloss.

3. Curious about lip scrubs? They can be quite the treat, especially when they taste like liquorice, but a toothbrush across your lips gets the job done too.

And last but not least, a tip I mistakenly thought everyone knew, till receiving some scandalized looks in the change room:

4. To avoid lipstick on  your teeth, after application stick your finger in your mouth, put your lips around it, and pull your finger out. That sounds dirty even typing it. On its way out, your finger pulls out all the lipstick in the vicinity of your teeth, giving you a flawless smile till your next application.

Mwah!

-A

2013

You know…the year in which I get over my guilt of not posting since early 2012, and apologize profusely like every blogging tip list tells you NOT to do. Whoops. Here goes.

It’s almost officially been a year since my last legitimate post. The ironic thing is, I get beyond annoyed when my favorite blogs go silent for a week, let alone a year…how dare they have holidays! But in all seriousness, this post has been a long time coming. I can’t count how many times I’ve opened my blog folder on Evernote and tried for the millionth time to come up with some kind of structure that allows me to post about all the things I love without creating a directionless mess. But lets be honest…my interests basically are a hodgepodge of unrelated things that all together bear the dreaded cliche of ‘lifestyle blog’. No offense to those who run successful ones, and I enjoy them immensely. But me? Do I have a lifestyle that anybody cares about?

The truth is…I can’t ask that. If I dare continue to voice that question, i’ll likely never write another word. And oh would I miss it. So to my readers who may still be receiving post notifications…thank you, and bear with me!

-A

Stumble On Over…

…to my tumblr. The blog may have gone into hibernation, but the cheesiness certainly hasn’t.

I hope to officially return in the next few weeks, what with school starting and reliable internet returning. In preparation for that, I’ve started a Tumblr blog to compliment this one. I needed a home for all the images that I felt the instantaneous urge to save to my Evernote account, and a place to rebel against my fairly linear theme here on WordPress. I’m hoping that some accidental cross-over will happen on it’s own and perhaps help me curate a rounder collection of articles to share with you!

Till then!

A.

Break It Down

'And for our fifth layer...'

Lately I’ve been feeling a little bit discouraged. For every one customer that gets excited about product and learning how to take care of their skin most effectively, there are ten who ask me why their foundation just sits on their skin looking terrible…and then proceed to tell me that they use Dove body soap to wash their face.

‘Does my cleanser really matter?’

‘Can I just buy a moisture mask to help?’

‘Yes, but, my foundation looks terrible. Why is that?’

Alright. I’m getting into rant territory here. Sometimes, there are just too many questions, and too many products. As a beauty junkie, I realized the other day how much we sometimes forget what it’s like to know nothing.

Think back- if you can. Walking into a cosmetics department surrounded by shiny counters and equally glossy beauty advisors stalking the aisles, bottles in hand.

Your skin has been a little uncomfortable lately, a few breakouts, definately not looking its best though you can’t put your finger on the reason.
Running through your mind:

Which counter do I pick?
What do I even ask?
What if they get me in their chair? I don’t want to buy 10 different products for one problem.
How do I know they have my interests at heart, and not their sales plan?

So basically, terror. Even my chest felt tight as I remembered. In my case though, I had an early start in retail – cosmetics was that sparkly land past Ladieswear with all the loud pretty girls who eyed us warily as we cut through their department. Oh the perceptions of a 15 year old.

Sometimes when I’m talking to a customer, and trying to answer her questions with some semblance of detail, order and clarity I realize just how much information is coming out of my mouth. And how there’s not a chance in hell she’s going to understand, let alone retain, any of it when she leaves my counter. (Or when I stop for breath – whichever comes first. Kidding.)

So I’ll stop myself, and offer to book her in for a free facial so she can sit down, relax, and have a chance at retaining anything I’ve said.

But what about those customers who don’t have time for that? Or are entirely new to caring for their skin, and haven’t thought past their next bar of body soap, but really want to change? And so, I had to come back. Stat.

I might not be able to reach every person I meet, but I can hope that some of them will accidentally stumble across my little blog via a search engine, be able to browse at their leisure, and have some idea of whats happening on their face, without heart palpitations at being “got” by a beauty advisor.

So expect a collection of short and sweet skin care and beauty posts to come, in addition to some other goodies. I’ll try not to repeat what you’ve already read and instead dig into the true basics.

Maybe I’ll be able to make a small dent in that 1:10 ratio, and get a few people more confident and excited about the industry I love!

Till then,

Perfume Pedigrees

We used to play this game every time a new fragrance launched. Though it had no official name, it would go something like this:

“So what does it smell like?”

“Well, if ____ and _____ had a baby…it would smell like ____.”

Lineage is all well and good in the upper crust of society, but I for one prefer my fragrances to be more of the bastard child variety.

And who am I to argue with a customer who tells me that something from the Gap, for a fraction of the price, smells just like the designer fragrance I’ve sprayed for them? Especially when I investigate it myself and find it to be true? It’s a tad heartbreaking, that for all the money and talented noses that go into creating a scent for these unique designers, you can still end up with something entirely generic.

Maybe I’m the only one that cares. Maybe I should be spending more money for the ‘hand blended’, customized, niche scents of the world. But despite all of my ranting, it is JUST a fragrance. Is it too much to ask to find something that doesn’t smell like anything else? That truly delights my nose when I spritz it every morning?

Luckily there are still a few mainstream scents, that have broken away from the family fold and renew your faith in the powers …err… noses, that be.

This is just a small sampling of some of the fragrances I’ve been impressed by over the years, so feel free to add, or correct me should you know who the parents of one of these scents are!

1. YSL Elle
Sometimes the strangest smells make the best combinations. I’ve always thought this smells like woodsmoke, in the best way. It’s a very sharp fragrance, so let it die down a little bit before you judge it.

2. John Varvatos Woman
I’m so biased, but Varvatos is like a fragrance god. His colognes are deadly. As in…weak knee inducing sexy, scruffy, man in a bottle. Sigh. Vintage is my favorite. For the ladies, it’s a mixture of oak moss, patchouli, apricot and lily – it’s always smelt vaguely like a fruity scotch. Is that possible?

3. Gucci by Gucci
If I could only wear two scents for the rest of my life – one each for day and night, naturally – It would be the Eau de Toilette for day, and Parfum for night in this scent. I’m a sucker for patchouli-esque smells, and mixed with pear and tiare flower? I don’t actually know what tiare flower is. But oh, it’s lovely.

4. Euphoria Calvin Klein
While not all of his scents are this unique, he has become, dare I say, as classic as a Chanel fragrance? I can’t think of one launch that has been a failure, adding to a collection of timeless and ageless scents.

5. Dior Pure Poison Elixir
This is the only scent I’ve ever actually purchased on my own. I’m not usually one for sweet scents, but unlike the rather boring original Pure Poison, this has just a hint of sweetness and a little bit of a powdery smell. It’s actually intoxicating. At least I think so. And then they had to go and discontinue it.

Writing this brings back so many memories of when I used to work more with fragrances – I do miss it! Every time I think of Burberry now, I remember a friend of mine who used to layer all three from the Brit collection…and it smelled amazing. Have you ever tried mixing scents? What are your favorites?

Love Note No. 4

Brighter By Nature SPF 30 Skin Tone Correcting Makeup. Phew!

It’s official. I’m in love. And it’s everything it’s not supposed to be.

It’s a powder. It’s not overpriced. No, I’m not getting into a debate on that one. It’s not chock full of chemicals. Oh yeah, and it’s a powder. I know, I already said that but you see, I’ve spent the majority of my time as a beauty junkie giving face powder the stink eye. And natural ingredients? Well obviously it can’t compete with my beloved Estee Lauder, or Clarins.

I am a die hard synthetic girl. I mean, synthetic = technology right? And of course I’m willing to pay for that. Over the past few months however, I’ve had cause to eat my words or rather, my products, with Origins. Kidding. They’re not THAT natural. Please don’t taste them.

You’ve already seen me recommend a loose powder in my 5 minute makeup collection, but as implied by the 5 minute part I’m not usually concerned about looking stunning and flawless – only less like I just rolled out of bed. Even the best powders I’ve tried have always looked a little, well…dull. They make me look dry, cakey, and they don’t offer nearly enough coverage.

Natural makeup in particular, I’ve always found is notorious for being sub par in performance – they like to use ingredients like talc which makes everything chalky and less pigmented or shea butter which makes lipsticks more like chapsticks. The idea of a mineral powder is great, but whats the point if you can still see through it? I haven’t been oily since I was 15, so there’s no need to hide shine either.

And then there was Origins. I had already been using the Brighter By Nature line quite happily to help with acne scarring, and I’m a big fan of ‘light diffusing pigments’ so with quite a bit of trepidation, I bit my tongue and sat down in the chair to try the matching powder they had just released.

At first, I was nonplussed. Good coverage, but still a little flat, and it still FELT like a powder. I don’t like to feel things on my skin. Ten minutes passed, and I forgot I was wearing something new until I looked in the mirror. And let me tell you, I GLOWED. The powdery look and feel had completely disappeared, and I looked like I was wearing liquid foundation. Except that it took half the time to apply, and came out of a compact.

While the makeup isn’t literally ‘skin tone perfecting’, it does a beautiful job of delivering temporarily flawless skin while my other Brighter by Nature products work their magic underneath it. Naturally, I’ll never be a one foundation kind of girl, but if you need something quick, that makes your skin look like porcelain, I swear, ALL day, go jump in that Origins chair!

P.S.
This is good for almost all skin types, unless you’re obscenely dry. In which case, you should probably read this.

Awkward And Awesome Thursday

How convenient that this post falls on a Thursday – I don’t have to think of a name for it!

Awesome:

1. The extension that we received on our massive final project. So I’ll actually be back in another week, promise!

2. Ivanka Trump handbags. And shoes. There may be a Christmas wish list on it’s way, I’m kind of in love.

3. It snowed for the first time today! Somehow Christmas has become my favorite holiday, and that makes it seem so much closer.

4. Friends working the night shift while you’re pulling an all nighter. It makes the time pass so much faster, and stops you from faceplanting on your desk.

5. That drawing. If it seems a little distorted, it’s because it’s an elevation drawing of a perspective. Does that make sense?

Awkward:

1. It’s 2am. I finished an energy drink BEFORE checking my email to find that my rendering class also has an extension. Meaning ALL of my drawings are not due tomorrow. Just lovely.

2. This is my second time typing this post. WordPress decided not to acknowledge it’s existence when I inserted the photo, and deleted all of the typing.

3. The war zone that is our apartment right now. Every surface, is covered in every art supply imaginable. That’s what you get with both an Illustration and Environmental Design student living together with 3 weeks of final projects.

That’s all I’ve got for now. I can’t wait to get back and tell you all about the new, and most loved foundations I’ve been trying lately, and maybe share photos of this building reno project I’ve been working on. It depends on how pretty the final model turns out :)

Again, till then,

9 Days

9 days and counting until:

• I turn off my alarm for the next three weeks
• I care about the cardboard crumbs potentially stuck in my hair, clothes and everywhere in my apartment
• I stop asking myself why it was a good idea to take 6 classes this semester. Really.
• I never have to call a light fixture a luminaire again, or hear another lighting story in which my teacher was right, and the rest of the world, contractors, electricians were wrong. Again.
• I don’t have to talk about identity, hybridity or colonialism until January or analyze another book that the author probably intended to have way less meaning than we’re giving it.
• I’ll have time to edit my massive final project and make it portfolio worthy since it’s unlikely that’s going to happen in the next 9 days.
• Nina and I crack open the Peach Chardonnay, and I cook a real meal for the first time in a month.

In the meantime, there will be lots of this:

Planning

Sketch Model

Perspectives

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Till then,

Bright Eyes, Cool City

Estee Lauder Cooling Eye Illuminator

I’m lazy. There. I said it. As much as I love my makeup collection, and pause near mirrors way too much when I’m all done up, when it comes right down to it, some things I just don’t care enough to ‘fix’. Much like my feelings towards foundation primers, I tend to wonder who really notices?

We all have dark circles. Sometimes hereditary, sometimes from bad sleeping or eating habits. Mine are most likely from all three. While I don’t resemble the living dead, they’re not subtle. And so, my eye care routine generally involves: remove makeup, moisturize to ward off those dehydration lines waiting to rear their ugly heads as wrinkles. Like I said…who really notices?…ahem. But that’s beside the point.

And then, Estee Lauder ruined my life and released yet another thing I’m obligated by obsession to try. Cut me some slack – they only have so much skin care that’s not anti-aging, and that said, they’ll probably never re-create the cult status of their Advanced Night Repair, but this little gem really is something.

Have you ever seen your eyes, with no dark circles? At all? Not even a shadow? It’s WEIRD. Weird as in how have I gone my whole life neglecting the possibility of adding another product to my stash? And again…the mirror thing.

The product itself is fairly basic, which is the best gift you can give your peepers. We tend to go for the most kick ass, heavy anti-aging cream at the slightest  hint of a wrinkle which often causes so many other problems. Let me tell you, those tiny little milia? Can take months to reabsorb. It’s not fun. More on that later.

It’s pretty. Really. Because it comes in two colors, it doesn’t give you that strange deer in the headlights (literally) glow where your whole eye area is whiter than your face. It has a subtle glow that might look like shimmer in the tube, but doesn’t look sparkly once its blended. It also jumps on the bandwagon of fancy applicators made of special metals, or in this case ceramic which hold their cold temperature and feel lovely on the eye. If your only concern is puffiness though, I’ll always suggest cold spoons or cucumber slices – they work about the same way. Otherwise, it’s a cool little treat for your eyes. My favorite thing about the Idealist Eye however, is the fact that you don’t have to worry about wearing foundation with it. So many concealers still have the texture of a heavy foundation, which I had always thought was the only effective way to brighten my circles, and between the blending, and remembering to wear it under my foundation, it just never happened.

Much like the oh-so-accurate text (See the #7 Beauty Myth) on the back of most products, the instructions say to “Massage the cooling ceramic applicator around the eye area. AM and PM.” Fine. But when I’m done massaging in the product, my eye might feel great, but coverage wise? Not so much. The product just seems to get pushed around, so you do need to go in with your ring finger, smooth it out and pat it in for optimal dark circle coverage. At night I’ll worry about the cooling massage and let the treatment do its work while I sleep and it doesn’t have to look flawless.

As usual with Estee, I haven’t found anything that can quite hold a candle to the products they make that I’ve liked and after about 3 weeks straight of applying it day and night, my circles have indeed faded underneath the color coverage. So I’ll dutifully dab away, if only to have an excuse to check out my reflection in windows more while walking through the city.

Ha. I’m not that bad, I promise. I just ran out of witty endings.

Love,