Hope those of you in the U.S. are having a relaxing and peaceful 4th of July. So much to catch up on.
– Lots of trends over the past two weeks: lip "tattoos", emoji hair tapestries, snowglobe nails and a technique known as draping. Also, possibly for the first time, zits made a fashion statement. (I liked this rejoinder explaining why it wasn't appropriate to glorify acne on the runway).
– In beauty history, Jonathan Walford of the Fashion History Museum in Toronto discusses lip stencils, and Fashionista offers a succinct history of red lipstick.
– These parents get a big thumbs up from me. This vlogger, not so much.
– On the social media front, Instagram may pose a threat to our individuality, Snapchat stole some makeup artists' looks to use as filters, and Urban Decay introduced a Tinder-like app for lipstick. You can also try on lipsticks via Facebook Messenger now, or choose your new lip color by virtual kisses (although I really don't like the idea of kissing my smartphone…they're apparently filthy.)
– Other beauty breakthroughs included magnetic eye lashes and a new foundation finder that actually works. Meli from Wild Beauty helped pioneer it, so while I haven't tried it yet I bet it's way more effective than anything we have currently (looking at you, Sephora Color IQ.) Very exciting!
–Olympic medal or highlighter?
The random:
– Not sure how you can "accidentally" discover a previously unknown color, but a new shade of blue has been unearthed. I'm eager to see it appear in makeup form.
– Jezebel had a lovely history of mermaids and our collective fascination with them.
– In '90s nostalgia, Crystal Pepsi is coming back to the U.S. in August (yes! loved this stuff), Uproxx brings us the history of Seinfeld's "urban sombrero", '90s Fest will expand to several venues (alas, none close enough to me), Blink-182 releases a new album, and a Refinery29 staffer attempts taking care of a tamagotchi.
– As proof you're never too old to get tattoos, Dame Judi Dench received her first at the age of 81. Which brings me to…my first tattoos! This was a very long time in coming – I swear it's not part of a midlife crisis. I had been wanting a Phi Beta Kappa tattoo on my arm since I got inducted into the society 16 years ago during my final semester of college. But everyone kept saying tattoos were a bad idea, blah blah blah. Plus I'm petrified of needles. So I kept putting it off. Then last November around my birthday I realized it had been 15 years that I first got the idea and still hadn't followed through despite never wavering on my desire to get the tattoo, so I started researching artists. I visited several shops in Baltimore and was quite unimpressed, and right around the time I was searching Keith "Bang Bang" McCurdy's book was released and I decided to check him out. After perusing the portfolios of the other artists working at his shop I knew I was in the right hands. So I made an appointment and did the deed! Joice was seriously amazing – incredibly warm and sweet and made me feel instantly at ease. And I was so pleased to see she was left-handed. :) I have no idea why I was so afraid of the needle, as it didn't resemble anything remotely needle like. It just looked like a regular pen.
The second one I've been wanting for probably about 5 years. It's based on this necklace pendant, which is the first piece of jewelry my dad gave my mom (her name is Concetta but she goes by Chet or Chettie), and they'll be celebrating their 50th anniversary next year! I'm really close to both my parents and I've always loved the design of this necklace, so I knew it would make a great tattoo. I feel like my mom is with me in spirit so this is a perfect physical manifestation of that closeness.
Blur-tacular photo but I'm too lazy to take a clearer picture. Trust me, it looks great.
Neither of mine hurt, although that could be because I got them in pretty low-pain spots. Just felt like some slight pinching. As for the husband, he showed his solidarity in getting a finger tattoo inspired by our beloved plushies. Specifically, it was based on Yoyamart Babo.
He also got this really cool overlapping circles tattoo on his wrist. Joice is amazing with color so I may have to get a colorful mermaid from her eventually. 😉
So that wraps up Curator's Corner. How have you been? And do you have a tattoo or are you thinking about getting one? Please feel free to email me with any questions. I'm by no means an expert but I did a ton of research before taking the plunge, so I can probably help with general stuff, like finding an artist, aftercare, etc. 🙂