Hello. Unless you've been living under a rock, you're probably aware that it's been quite a tumultuous week here in Baltimore. So I thought I'd let you know that I'd like to have been blogging but since I both live and work downtown I've been very distracted with what's going on, plus sleep-deprived. I haven't slept well since the convenience store in my building, which we live directly over, got looted last Monday. (I'd show some pics but that would be akin to posting my home address.) Needless to say I was rattled by witnessing part of the building get destroyed mere feet from where I was standing, as I was in the living room when I looked out the window and saw a large group of teenagers running through rush-hour traffic towards the building. It's very unsettling to have your home surrounded by an angry mob and feeling the floor vibrate from the destruction going on right beneath you. The husband and I went outside about an hour afterwards to assess the damage and help clean up what we could and I saved a little shard of glass. I don't know why.
We didn't sleep at all that night, especially as our property manager advised us to "keep the lights off and pray" and I spent the last week barely sleeping since I was terrified they'd be back to torch the place. I'm always petrified of fire anyway so the rioting only exacerbated my fear…not to mention a guy got caught using a crowbar to pry off the plywood used to board up the store the following evening (fortunately the police were monitoring the security camera at the intersection near the building and arrested him before he he had a chance to get in.) Plus seeing vehicles like this parked outside my home throughout the week is also unsettling. Poor Sailor Babo – I had to explain to him that it wasn't a funny-looking ice cream truck.
I hope to get back to regular posting later this week. Most importantly though, while I've told you my experience, it's not about me. It's about the much larger issue of police brutality, especially towards people of color, and in this case some members of the Baltimore police force are ultimately the ones to blame for the unrest. None of this would have happened if they hadn't, you know, arrested someone on false charges and then proceed to injure him so severely that he DIED in custody. Combine this outrageous act with decades of poverty in certain areas of the city and systemic racism, and it's no surprise some people rioted. I don't condone it at all, especially since some businesses may never recover, but I understand why it happened. It's also important to remember that by and large the protesting was overwhelmingly peaceful. But I still think the whole Freddie Gray situation was just so messed up, and I hope real change is on the way.
Anyway, please consider donating to help rebuild the areas that were affected. More info here and here.
In lieu of Curator's Corner today I'm doing my yearly picks and pans, i.e., featuring the design highs and lows for makeup this year (see previous years here and here, and here). My faves for 2014:
1. Mika Ninagawa for Shu Uemura:
This was the third collaboration between the artist and Shu Uemura. In my opinion, it was the best of the three. The fantasy worlds she created were so colorful and crazy you couldn't help but smile when you saw them.
2. Chanel Dentelle Précieuse:
We've seen lace palettes before (most notably in Dolce & Gabbana's Sicilian Lace palette and Dior's spring 2010 collection) but Chanel took the lace cake this year with very intricate Dentelle Précieuse. Moreover, I was tickled pink that I was able to find the exact pattern used on the palette hiding in the pieces from their spring 2009 collection.
3. Dolce & Gabbana Collector's Edition powders:
The art historian in me positively swooned when I first laid eyes on these. Yes, the coin design depicting Athena may be grossly inaccurate but it did have some basis in Sicilian/ancient Greek history and also was directly borrowed from D & G's spring 2014 collection, so I really couldn't complain.
And here are ones that I thought missed the mark. They're all from the spring 2014 collections, which, looking back, I guess I was pretty underwhelmed by overall.
1. Lancôme Rose Ballerine highlighter blush:
(image from thestylelane.com)
Another pink rose from the brand. Whoop-dee-doo. I understand the rose is a treasured symbol of Lancôme and while they've done many iterations of the rose over the years, they've also made them visually interesting (see the cubist-esque Coral Flirt blush or the beautifully sparkling Rose Étincelle). This particular rose design was completely uninspired. It's a moot point, however, as I don't think this palette ever made it stateside.
2. Chantecaille Bees palette:
Oh, Chantecaille. You're better than this! Why do you insist on repeating the same 4-pan design? Yes, I did buy it but really more to serve as "filler" for the spring exhibition. Also, this is the third year in a row Chantecaille has appeared on my pans list…it's high time for them to get back in the game.
3. Clarins Opalescence blush:
(image from chicprofile.com)
I was initially drawn to Clarins's spring 2014 collection, only to pass on it once I realized I had no clue what the design was supposed to be. Colorwise it's quite pretty, but I simply have no desire to collect something with a weird abstract pattern without any explanation from the company as to what it represents.
What do you think of my picks and pans this year? If you have some time to kill, feel free to look through the archives and see if there are any others you would include.
Sigh. Poor little neglected Makeup Museum! I had what can only be described as the week from hell, which, now that I think about it actually lasted over a week. Between everything going wrong last week for a major work meeting that I was planning (which is thankfully over as of this morning) and a truly epic stomach flu this past weekend, I've either been too drained or too sick to even think about blogging. (The sickness might have been food poisoning – all I know is that I have not had a stomach illness of that magnitude in well over a decade.) I hope to catch up on some more holiday posts shortly, but if not, I'm at least going to try to get up the holiday/winter exhibition as I planned to this weekend.
Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday shopping/baking/celebrating!
In lieu of showing shiny new things today I thought I'd share a little bit of what goes on behind the scenes at the Makeup Museum. Part 1 will cover the basics while in part 2 you'll see how I install my little home exhibitions.
So this is where the blogging "magic" happens – our home office. The big monitor belongs to the husband since he's a fancy schmancy graphic designer. I work on the laptop, which I hope to replace this year. You might remember the Marcel Wanders table that I didn't recognize despite working at it for years. I also just realized I still haven't removed the labels from the fall 2013 exhibition, whoops.
Our cork board, filled with silly bits of ephemera we've collected over the years:
On the adjacent wall is the Chairman – he keeps me on task, the bastard.
Here's the windowsill where I take pictures of the Museum's objects. Yes, it looks worn…the reason is that the building is over 150 years old and the historic association fights us every time we ask about getting new windows.
I attempt to use this very nice Canon camera that I acquired last year. I really wish I could figure out how to properly take pictures – it's a good camera but it's useless if you don't know what you're doing. Methinks I need a photography course. I leave the instruction booklet out with the vague hope that one day I'll actually learn to use all the settings.
As for actual writing, I am ALWAYS in my pajamas. I mostly blog at home, and while there I'm never actually dressed unless we have people over…plus I need to be comfy! (The pajamas shown here are seersucker ones from Anthropologie but I'm partial to the printed ones from Old Navy.)
While I write it's not unusual for a staff member to wander in and ask me what I'm doing.
They try to help but every time they end up googling cookie recipes and pictures.
"Typepad? What dat?"
I don't have a formal writing process. I generally have a basic idea of what I want to say when I start typing, but it takes a while to flesh it out and make it coherent. I will say that I have difficulty writing a post about an object without the pictures in the draft. I'm not sure whether that's an effect of this increasingly image-based culture in which we're all immersed or whether I'm just particularly in need of visuals, but it's much easier for me to write when I have the photos in the draft post. I'm also prone to falling down rabbit holes – researching one thing will lead me to many other things I find interesting or relevant, so it takes a fair amount of time for me to get a post finished. Finally, I'm always reminded at how vastly different blogging is than writing an academic paper, even though I've been blogging for years. I enjoy blogging but I would give anything to write a formal paper again.
Where and how do you blog? And do you have any tips?
Hello! That was an unplanned and certainly lengthy blog hiatus. I don't really have any excuse besides the general malaise I get every winter, and as you may know this is the winter that won't end, which made me even more miserable and less inclined to do much of anything besides sleep. Anyway, I finally took control of the incredibly messy spreadsheet containing all the Museum's items and made it into something that was easy to read. I had always kept track of items purchased for the collection but it was so embarrasingly disorganized I couldn't ever write about it. With the help of my very organized husband, I'm pleased to bring you an inventory that will be updated quarterly. I also added most (I say most because I'm sure I may be missing a few things) of the memorabilia – postcards, mailers, bags, etc. Click on "Collection Inventory" in the navigation bar above and let me know what you think!
Today I'd like take a step back and ask my fellow bloggers how you manage your time. I've been blogging for over 5 years yet I still struggle with time management. I have two main things I try to accomplish each week: work out 4-5 days and write 4 posts. Seems easy, right? I work full-time, but with no kids or even a long commute, I'm puzzled as to why I still can't seem to either blog consistently or exercise consistently or both. No matter how much I plan or schedule, I'm never really on the ball. It's frustrating, especially when I see bloggers who are busier but can keep up without a hitch. I guess all of the other little things add up (like seeing friends/family, errands, cleaning, keeping up with over 1,000 blog subscriptions, taking on bigger blog projects like exhibitions), plus I need some time to, you know, just relax with a book or watch a movie. So that's a decent amount of juggling. Still, I know I can't be THAT busy. I'm baffled as to how I can't get more done, nor do I see a solution to the problem. Admittedly I have a low threshold for busy-ness. I don't like multitasking or cramming lots of things into one day. Given my disposition and personality, perhaps I'm simply attempting too much while other people can take on much more and not feel stressed…or maybe I'm just lazy.
My question to those of you who work full-time in addition to managing a blog is, simply, how do you do it? How do you find balance between work, life, and blogging? I'd love to hear any tips and advice!
Two MM staff members, hard at work helping me dream up new ideas…or maybe just thinking about cookies.
I've been a little quiet but it's not for a dearth of ideas. In fact, I have tons, but I'm finding they're sort of larger projects that will take more time. Therefore posting will be a little spotty for the next month or so, or maybe until the spring collections are in full bloom. But if you're curious, I'll give you a little taste of what I'm plotting:
– a complete Makeup Museum inventory that will be updated quarterly
– a Makeup Museum "library" of sorts
– Curator's wishlist of items I'm still trying to hunt down
– pre-spring capsule exhibition (hint: it builds off the theme of the fall 2013 exhibition)
– a snapshot of what goes on behind the scenes here at the Museum
– and, of course, continuing to work on getting a temporary exhibition in a physical space going and plugging away on the repeatedly mentioned coffee table book (I swear I've started it, I really have! I've got a working title and main subjects of each chapter figured out.)
As you can see, these aren't things that I can do in one day, so it'll take a bit of time. But please check back every so often for updates! 🙂
As we get ready to celebrate the impending new year, let's take a quick look back into 2013 and reflect on the highs and lows of beauty packaging and design. As I've done in previous years, I present to you my top three picks as well as three collections that didn't exactly knock my socks off.
First, things I loved:
1. Cosme Decorte Makeup Coffret II: Between the laser-cut paper insert, the luxe white lining of the box and the woodland creatures frolicking about, this is possibly the ultimate winter cosmetics package.
2. Clarins summer bronzer: The glowing red of the compact lid paired perfectly with the intricate, Aztec-inspired pattern imprinted on the powder.
3. OB for Shu: while I was deliriously happy to see the Shu/Murakami collaboration, it was Murakami's young protegé that truly captured my heart this year. OB's collection was sheer magic, full of whimsy and beautiful soft colors.
I also wanted to give an honorable mention to something that was not released this year but that blew me away nevertheless: the amazing memorabilia that was generously bestowed upon me by a mysterious Stila fan!
And now for the pans. Here are three that I found to be the most disappointing.
1. NARS/Guy Bourdin: I was so excited to learn of another NARS artist collaboration this year given the phenomenal 2012 Andy Warhol collection, but was crushed when I saw the terribly misogynist work by Bourdin, which was used on the packaging for the NARS collection. Ugh.
2. Wild Horses palette by Chantecaille: Yes, I bought it. But did I love it? Not really. I'm not a huge fan of horses to begin with, and this palette followed the same basic four-pan layout as the previous five (!) Chantecaille releases.
3. All collections by YSL: Seriously, get it together!
Do you agree with my picks? If you're so inclined, dig through this year's archives and see which makeup items were your faves (and least fave)!
Just a quick update – I had a big work event this weekend, the preparation for which ate up all my
time so I was unable to get any posts ready for this coming week. (Don't you hate it when your real job interferes with your blog?!) But
never fear, I'll be back and posting this weekend. 🙂
The fabulous Paulette of Ms. Charm's Chic approached me a little while ago asking if I would like to be interviewed for an article at her blog. Naturally I jumped at the chance! You can read her post here. If you're local, definitely check out Ms. Charm's Chic for all the latest fashion news (and other cool stuff) here in our little town!
Thank you again Paulette!! I am so honored!