It's been a really crappy couple of weeks and I'm just now finally caught up on the massive pile of posts I had planned. At least the exhibition's up though, right? Anyway, here are some links.
– For the lumbersexual in your life: he can now take his holiday spirit to the next level with beard ornaments.
– Very curious to see what the new director of Chanel Beauty has up her sleeve…hope she comes up with some great collectibles.
– I've added yet another new beauty book to my wishlist.
– Always wanted dimples at the small of your back? Well, now there's surgery for that. Maybe it's because I already have "dimples of Venus" since they occur naturally in some women but I'm seriously baffled that anyone would go under the knife to acquire them. I don't judge anyone who chooses cosmetic surgery, of course, I just don't think these dimples are THAT special.
– An XO Vain staffer tests out a drawn-on hairline, the latest beauty trend from Korea.
– Madrid will be hosting a new exhibition on perfume, which is basically an update to the incredibly popular Art of Scent exhibition that took place at New York's Museum of Arts and Design in 2012. Note to self: study Chandler Burr's career trajectory and figure out how to replicate it in the field of cosmetics.
– The latest skincare trend from Korea: red light therapy, a.k.a. "reverse tanning".
– Product reviews for the week are for Armani Eyes to Kill shadows. I just now realized all the ones I own were limited edition and no longer available, so I'm not sure how helpful they are, but keep your eyes peeled for reviews of more recent Armani products.
– Wonders never cease: My father, who is so Internet-illiterate he can't even use email, was of all people the one to inform me that Reddit would be hosting an AMA with Sleater-Kinney this past Tuesday. (He read about it in his paper copy of Entertainment Weekly. Thanks, Dad!) The whole transcript is here and you can hear another one of their new songs here. Oh, and they also were unsurprisingly awesome and funny on The Chris Gethard show.
– Mental Floss provides some little known facts about two of my favorite holiday movies, Elf and Christmas Vacation.
– Reviews for the week were supposed to be for YSL gel liners. I went to upload pictures to the page and…I had already reviewed them. Duh. It's too late to take pictures of some other product since it's dark out, so new product reviews will be back next week (I'll make sure I haven't already reviewed them and totally forgot.)
The random:
– I'm planning a trip to Rome in March and I sure as hell don't have any plans to carve my initials into the Colosseum, as this clueless tourist did. I just don't understand some people.
– In addition to the Pee Wee Herman movie, there's also a blog being launched.
– As for Thanksgiving, my plan was to stay up to buy those Tom Ford mini lipsticks I had been hankering after, but I was way too tired to get in front of the computer at midnight after spending all day and part of the night before making the following 6 desserts (plus a huge vat of mashed potatoes): Two-layer gingerbread cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting, Dutch apple pie, double chocolate caramel cookies made using these chips my dad gave me last weekend to experiment with, vanilla ice cream (for pie a la mode, of course), pumpkin pie bites and pumpkin cheesecake. Here's a terrible photo:
The desserts look extremely unappetizing but I assure you everything was pretty damn tasty! And my apple pie wasn't all watery like last year so I was pleased to have redeemed myself.
How was your Thanksgiving and/or Black Friday shopping? Are you ready for Cyber Monday?
– The patriarchy is alive and well, as evidenced by this study on men's behavior towards women wearing high heels. Honestly, why was this even conducted? I don't give a flying fig what men think is attractive and neither should anyone else, so I have no idea why their opinion is so important that it warranted its own survey.
– Since I was away this weekend and had no time for swatches, product reviews are for new holiday bath and body items, namely LUSH's Drummers Drumming bubble bar and Philosophy's Holiday Spice Rack 3 in 1 set.
The random:
– Hear snippets of two new Sleater-Kinney songs during their interview on All Things Considered. So so so good…can't wait till January 20th, when the album is released in full, and February 25th, when I'll be seeing them live in DC. :D I'm also always shocked at how soft and gentle Corin's speaking voice is – listening to her talk, you would never know what a tremendously powerful singing voice she has.
– Along those lines, I can't wait for season 5 of Portlandia. I spy lots of good cameos in the new trailer.
– In '90s news, I'm SO glad Refinery29 posted this list of 20 hits from 1994 – I thought I was the only one who remembered "Here Comes the Hotstepper", one of my most listened to songs on my ultimate '90s playlist.
If you're in the U.S., are you excited for Turkey Day? Will you be engaging in any Black Friday shopping? That reminds me – be sure to snatch up those limited edition Tom Ford lipsticks at the stroke of midnight on Thursday!
This week's links, and a thought of the day: I've realized that once you get past the age of 30, birthdays are no longer fun. Having said that, it just means I will treat myself to more presents to feel better. Take that, aging!
– If you thought $50 was a lot to pay for Louboutin nail polish, you may want to sit down for his newest creation – a $675 bejeweled edition for the holidays. I'm ashamed to admit that I'm tempted by it.
– In totally unnecessary beauty releases, this week we have a new perfume from Snooki (of Jersey Shore fame) that is allegedly inspired by her upcoming nuptials.
– I stated above that I spoil myself to take the edge off turning a year older, but the husband also helps me feel better by giving me some very thoughtful gifts as well. Two years ago he bought me a pair of boots I had been coveting as an early b-day present. About a month ago I casually mentioned I wouldn't mind having another pair in plain black, and he totally surprised me with them! Here they are modeled by art handler Secret Mission Babo.
How was your week? And how do you treat yourself on your birthday?
Links for the week, plus a new feature in Curator's Corner: stuff I've been reviewing. I realized, much to my disappointment, that most of my scant blog traffic comes from people googling product reviews. I'd really prefer to have visitors that are there to read my posts rather than the sad reviews I've put up (on the right side, if you've never noticed), but I guess I'd rather have a meager amount of traffic due to reviews than no traffic at all. So to that end, I will try to update the product review section every week and let you know in Curator's Corner which product(s) I've reviewed.
– Last week I mentioned Makeup For Ever will be releasing a Fifty Shades of Grey collection. Now OPI is getting in on the action. Meh.
– Did you partake in the Sephora VIB sale madness? I did, once the site starting working again. I'm not sure I understand the outrage regarding the site's crash – as a 10-year veteran of the annual 20% off sale, I can say that it happens every year. It was worse this year, I'll give you that, but those of us who frequent the makeup board over at MUA fully expect it. In fact, I take a sort of perverse pride in crashing it, and frankly would be disappointed in my fellow makeup addicts if we didn't. Anyway, I also don't believe Sephora made a deliberately racist attempt to stop reselling. Now I have my issues with Sephora and while it's my favorite store I certainly don't think it's without fault, but I just don't think the accusations of racism hold water…at least not yet. I'll be keeping an eye out to see if new evidence comes to light.
– British actress Olivia Colman gets her very own portrait at the National Portrait Gallery in London. I know she's being doing more dramatic roles and it's a wonderful photo, but I still will always see her as Sophie from one of my favorite TV comedies, Peep Show.
– Instead of saving the best for last as I normally do, I'm leading with the most exciting news via British Beauty Blogger. I audibly gasped when I saw this beautiful new bronzer from Dolce & Gabbana, something I haven't done in a while. Jane mentioned that both the bronzer and an illuminator would be available starting November 3rd at Harrod's. I've been stalking the site and they're both there now so I just forked over the £25 for shipping and got both. (Or rather, my sweet husband did as an early birthday present for me!) These will most likely make their way to the States, but being a crazy collector I simply couldn't wait. I'll do a post as soon as they arrive.
– Do you remember that Tommy Hilfiger had a makeup line? I didn't, and that's why I'm so glad I found Fuck Yeah Nostalgic Beauty – it's chock full of great vintage ads.
– XO Vain explains a concept known as feminist makeupping. I'm wondering why I'm just hearing about this now.
– We've had Charlotte Rampling for NARS, Jessica Lange for Marc Jacobs Beauty, and now Helen Mirren will be a spokesperson for L'Oreal! I'm very pleased that we're continuing to see more mature ladies in beauty ads. Unfortunately Mirren's ads will be relegated to the UK, but the U.S. is getting an over-40 model here for L'Oreal, Naomi Watts. Definitely a step in the right direction.
– Speaking of frivolous beauty, I'm confused by this post-workout blowout. I don't know about you, but there's no way I can't not wash my hair after my cardio sessions (when I was able to do cardio, sigh) – no amount of dry shampoo would absorb all the sweat, plus I'd feel pretty gross.
– LUSH's Christmas collection is in stores. I was ridiculously excited to sniff the Drummers Drumming bubble bar because it supposedly smelled like strawberry and I was hoping it would be a dupe for my beloved Magic Mushroom bubble bars. Well, guess what, it's a spot-on replica! I basically cleaned out the stock at my location. So yeah, if you liked Magic Mushrooms, run, don't walk to your nearest LUSH and pick up some Drummers Drumming. Actually, don't do that because I need them ALL.
The random:
– Congratulations are in order for Jonathan Walford, founder and curator of the Fashion History Museum in Cambridge, Ontario and the founding curator of the Bata Shoe Museum. He posted a nice profile of his work and the new, first-ever permanent physical location for his museum (set to open next fall!) over at his blog. He says, “You refuse to let it die…we believe in it. It will work. People are excited about it and want to come.” I hope some day I'm saying the same thing for the Makeup Museum and the opening of a physical location for it.
– At least one stupid idea I had is coming to fruition. I never mentioned it to anyone because I was afraid people would think I'm very dumb and/or insane, but the idea of a treadmill class similar to a spin class had occurred to me – just substitute running for cycling. The New York Times reports that new "treadmill studios" are now popping up. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all? (via Gawker)
– Showing my old age, but when I was little I positively adored Pee Wee's Playhouse. Therefore I was overjoyed to hear that a new Pee Wee movie directed by Judd Apatow is in the works.
If you're in the U.S., I hope you enjoyed the extra hour of sleep thanks to daylight savings time!
I fell off the blogging wagon for a bit – not feeling great on account of this nagging injury that refuses to budge and subsequent weight gain from not being able to do any cardio. My mood has been…volatile, to say the least. Anyway, here are some links from the past couple of weeks.
– Speaking of not believing the hype, Jezebel brings to light that the expensive skincare you're buying is most likely nothing more than snake oil. It could explain why the vast majority of skincare products (except for prescription ones) don't seem to do anything for me.
– I'm always excited by new beauty lines so I'm intrigued by the arrival of European chain & Other Stories in the States, thanks to this rundown of what beauty products they have to offer.
– Not sure how I feel about MAC setting up stores meant for tweens and teens. On the one hand, it's nice for the young'uns to have a beauty space just for them, but at the same time I don't think they should be targeted as makeup consumers. They'll have their entire lives to be bombarded with beauty marketing, no need to start them purchasing makeup at such a young age. Plus MAC already makes a fortune; this sort of comes off as a callous grab for more profit. Then again, there's plenty of beauty stuff out there being peddled to this demographic so I don't know.
– I don't think the cost of Jessica Simpson's beauty routine is anyone's business but her own. I admit if I had that kind of cash I'd probably spend a similar amount (and don't pretend like you wouldn't, either!)
The random:
– If you still don't have any ideas for a Halloween costume, check out these '90s-themed ones here and here.
– Ooh, this color thesaurus would very much come in handy for someone as obsessed with color as I am.
– Feast your eyes on the latest Starbucks creation: the Chestnut Praline Latte. I had already known about it since Baltimore happened to be one of the test markets last year. I can confirm that it's tasty and I'm happy to see it go nationwide this year.
– Um. Stay classy, Baltimore. Seriously, WTF? On a more positive note, I was pleased to get confirmation from a linguist that Kathy Bates's character on American Horror Story: Freak Show does indeed have a Baltimore accent (albeit quite exaggerated and not 100% accurate), something that I had suspected but for which had no evidence.
– There's an exhibition on the legacy of Riot Grrrl at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco called Alien She (after the Bikini Kill song). I'm really pleased Riot Grrrl is continuing to get its due, but at the same time I'm beyond crushed that despite my academic work on the subject, which was among the first to recognize the importance of the movement, I have not once been approached to give any insight or guidance on these major projects (see here and here) save for a conference in London. I have much more to say but this blog isn't the appropriate space for it.
– Anyway, let's end on a good note (literally). I saved the biggest and best news for last! Back in September I mentioned that I ordered a very special Sleater-Kinney box set. Well, turns out it included quite the surprise: a song from their new album that will be released on January 20. Yes, MY FAVORITE BAND IS REUNITING!! Not only that, S-K (or as I like to call them, the holy trinity) is going on tour and after much frustration I got tickets to one of their DC shows in February. Anyway, here's the song that was released. I've only listened to it once – being the huge dork that I am, I started to cry every time I tried to play it. I just can't believe I'm hearing new music from them, something I never thought would be possible after they announced their "indefinite hiatus" back in 2006 (I cried then, too, for a solid hour upon hearing that news). And it's good, too! They sound like their usual awesome, imcomparable selves.
The video is a bit creepy but it was made by Miranda July, who is, incidentally, one of the artists whose work is featured in the Alien She exhibition. Anyway, I'm still reeling from the news and just so so so happy. 🙂
– The so-called "nipple meridian" can tell you how close (or, sadly, far) your boobs are to perfection. While initially I didn't like the idea of such a thing being quantifiable, the measure was developed by a plastic surgeon to help guide him and fellow surgeons in performing breast augmentations, not to define yet another impossible standard for women.
– Some sad news: one of my very favorite bath and body etailers, Bathed and Infused, has closed after 9 years. I bought backups of my staple scents but once those run out I have no idea what I'm going to do – not only were they unique, they were the only ones that worked with my wonky chemistry.
– Ugh, do we really need this new makeup line by Tyra Banks? I don't mind if it's coming from a makeup artist or fashion house, or if it's a one-off collaboration with a brand, but people who have no business getting into beauty need to stop flooding the market with crap like this (I'm looking at you, One Direction. Also fragrances from the likes of Pharrell, Justin Bieber, Beyoncé, Katy Perry et al. Stop it already.)
– Can you believe the ultimate ode to fall turns 5 this year?! (I've linked to it a few times before, I know, but I can't do a Curator's Corner in October without it!)
– I have quite the love/hate relationship with Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld. The stunt at his latest show puts me on the hate side again. Fortunately this fashion week-related video courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel took the edge off. Hilarious.
– I kinda can't believe my prison high school made national news. I hated it for a number of reasons, most of which involving the fact that it was essentially run like a jail, but the racist mascot (identical to a certain football team, which is also getting lots of press) really put the cherry on top. I'm glad to see the students now are taking a stand against it, something I never had the courage to do as much as it bothered and embarrassed me, but I'm sad to see the administration is still as backwards and awful as it was when I was there so many years ago.
It's been a really crappy couple of weeks and I'm just now finally caught up on the massive pile of posts I had planned. At least the exhibition's up though, right? Anyway, here are some links.
