Happy Easter and Passover! Here are some links from the past couple weeks, along with a recap of our trip to Rome, if you're so inclined. 🙂
– Here's an inside look on how lipsticks are made.
– The V & A is relaunching the blockbuster 2012 Alexander McQueen exhibition (originally at the Met), and with it, a special exhibition devoted to runway makeup from his shows. So wish I could get to London right now! (via British Beauty Blogger)
– Refinery 29 rounds up some of the best beauty memes.
– Not impressed with these "odd" beauty jobs (lice-picker, anyone?) – how about a consultant who works with makeup companies to select artists for collaborations? I'd be so good at that. 😉
– Yahoo! Beauty reports on the rise of "boy beauty", a.k.a. blogs run by men focused on male grooming. It's no surprise this is catching on, as both Cosmetics Design and Beauty Packaging constantly report on how companies are forever trying to tap the men's market.
– XO Vain has a great piece up on feminism and makeup, sparked by the excellent book Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism (which has been on my "Recommended Reading" list on the left side of the blog for ages but that I've never reviewed.)
– Very informative article on makeup trends in the early 20th century. I'm kinda bummed though as I feel I should have been the author (and the author of all the other subsequent articles as well – apparently this is the first post in a series.) Hey Jezebel, I'm more than qualified to write some beauty history posts for you, and I'd do it for free.
The random:
– Another very positive review for Sleater-Kinney.
– I love these breakthroughs that allow the blind to more fully experience works of art and the colorblind to see color.
– I'm usually not into April Fool's Day pranks but this was a good one.
– My parents, as usual, have bestowed way too much Easter candy on the husband and I so I'm looking forward to using up some of the Cadbury eggs they gave us in these recipes.
And finally, if you're interested, here's a recap of our vacation in sunny Roma! While Paris and Amsterdam ultimately won out for our honeymoon we decided to take on the Eternal City for our five-year wedding anniversary. Technically that's not till August but we didn't want to wait until then since we heard it gets quite hot and crowded in the summer months. As a former art history major I've been wanting to go to Rome for years, plus Italian is my favorite cuisine – can never get enough pizza and pasta (I eat pizza literally once a week and go a little nuts if I don't have my weekly pie.)
Our hotel was situated near the Spanish Steps, which are lovely, although unfortunately teeming with street vendors aggressively trying to sell you selfie sticks and other crap. Towards the end of the trip I was about ready to forcibly take a selfie stick from one of them and beat them senseless with it.
I was obliged to have a picture in front of the Sephora at the base of the steps, because, duh, that's what beauty junkies do when visiting other countries.
And look at this! Further up on the Via del Corso is another Sephora, then a Kiko, then a MAC. I didn't go into the Sephora or MAC since we have those in the States, but I did spend a bit of time playing in the Kiko store and brought back a few goodies.
Also, this is genius – a tape dispenser so you can swatch nail polishes! Why don't all stores have this?
But on to the really important cultural stuff. We covered the Colosseum and assorted sites nearby:
Trevi Fountain, which unfortunately was undergoing cleaning or restoration or something. Not gonna lie, was a little disappointed.
Mouth of Truth – I absolutely had to see this since it's one of my favorite movie scenes.
Piazza Navona:
Vatican Museums (plus the Sistine Chapel – no pics of that since they don't allow photography in the chapel):
St. Peter's:
Pantheon:
Villa Borghese park and museum:
And a bunch of fountains, which I loved since so many of them featured mermen!
Here's some of the food. Oh, the food. Pizza and pasta and gelato galore!! I was in my glory. I feared I may have to be rolled home, despite all the walking we did. Fortunately I still managed to squeeze myself onto the plane.
This restaurant was so cool – it was originally a sculpture studio for one of Canova's pupils.
The gelato was so tasty…I did have tiramisu one night but I think gelato was my favorite sweet in Rome.
We were quite enamored of this gelato place. They had liquid chocolate on tap!
And the last part – reuniting with my beloved Museum staff. We took a couple of plushies with us (including Sailor Babo – you can see his adventures here) but obviously we can't take all of them. Giving them a good squeeze was literally the first thing I did as soon as I set foot in our place. I worry so much about them when I'm not home and was so relieved to see them safe and sound.
Overall, Rome is a gorgeous city and I hope to go back to see even more things – we covered so much but certainly not everything, not by a long shot. It is truly an art historian's dream, and the food can't be beat. I will say that it was an exhilarating but exhausting trip…I think for our next one we're going to a resort of some kind to really relax. Don't get me wrong, we had a fabulous time and I'm so grateful I got to go (and to the husband for organizing it all – he seriously planned everything), but sitting on the beach all day would be a nice change of pace compared to our usual travels.
What have you been up to? Have you been to Rome or do you plan on going? Please feel free to email me with any questions…I'm not a Rome expert by any means but I can tell you some more details about getting around, finding places to eat, things I wish I knew before I went, etc.