The Fabulous! Festival for May '08

This month I am guest-hosting the Fabulous! Festival, a blog carnival devoted to looking and feeling fabulous! I read some beautifully, honestly and hilariously written posts on a variety of topics from wedding style to purse obsessions, so without further ado, I give you the top ten eleven.

..Beauty..
First off, ever wondered how perfumes and cosmetics evolved from essential oils and pinched cheeks? Over at Edwardian Promenade, edwardiangaiety does a thorough-and fascinating-examination of The Chemistry of Beauty, a necessary read for anyone curious about how major perfume houses and big names in cosmetics developed into the multi-million dollar industries they are today.

For those interested in scaling beauty routines back to basics, Amy at Brown-bag Beauty Blog profiles a simple technique for preparing dry skin for summer exposure. Interested in saving a little cash and exposing your skin to fewer chemical-laden exfoliating products? Dry Skin Brushing may be the answer to flaky skin woes.

Curious about more all-natural beauty? Allie of Allie's (green) Answers soothes irritated, angry skin with baking soda and finds herself converted to this unconventional solution. Follow her lead and Give It A Try-Skincare from the Kitchen Cupboard before investing in the latest pricey, unproven skin care products.

..Fashion + Style..
On the theme of remaining fabulous and eco-friendly, Ann at annie green jeans takes an in-depth look at, well, "green" jeans. In her post Who Makes Eco Fashion? she explores the oft-avoided question of how to go about making sustainable fashion choices.

At The Fashion-y Blog, Kori responds to a Bazaar layout criticizing Oval Office hopeful Hilary Clinton's wardrobe and asks "Do we want a president who will take the time to keep up with the trends and push the fashion envelope? Or do we want a president who will spend her time running the country?" in her post My Two Cents about the intersection of style and politics.

Nancy's, of Fritinancy, anxiety-free swimsuit shopping may fill readers with surprise-or jealousy-but her look at the Skirtini, Put on a Suit and You'll Look Cute, is whimsical, poetic, informative-and just in time for beach season.

At The Pinup Blog Tali takes a close look at the summery sex appeal of the Vespa. Her post Ladies Prefer Vespa profiles the brand's history of sexy girls on candy-colored bikes. You might not be surprised to discover that the current, super-slim models accessorizing Vespas in today's ads can't even compete with some of the classic Vespa-adorning beauties like Jayne Mansfield and Raquel Welsh.

Finally, Meg at All About Appearances offers up her Number One Style Tip: choosing colorful solids over hard-to-match, soon-to-be-dated prints.

..Shopping..
Registries for any event-like any large-scale shopping endeavor-can be overwhelming. Woman Tribune provides easy-to-follow suggestions for designing a successful-and exhaustive-registry in Planning Your Big Day: Wedding Registries.

At The Bargain Queens, Meg's simple tip for finding cute shopping totes at beyond-reasonable prices in The Keyword for Finding Cheap but Fun Shopping Totes is a great way to avoid pricey models designed to capitalize on the trendiness of eco-friendly goods.

Finally, SweetTooth over at ShopLittleGifts has an excellent worksheet for coming up with gift ideas for the person on your shopping list who has everything. Check out 9 Tips to Shop for People Who Have Everything.

..Attention, Bloggers!..
Meg will be hosting the Fabulous! Festival again on June 2nd! Submit your posts on fashion, beauty, shopping or personal style by May 30th using this carnival submission form.

Interested in hosting the festival? Contact Meg.

Questions? Try the Fabulous! Festival FAQ.

if you love it, stop washing it: hair

There are a lot of things I don't wash often in the interest of preserving them. Not in a disgusting, never-cleaned-my-sheets way, but any woman who has owned a perfect black cardigan or a silk jacket probably knows that the harshest thing you can do to your clothes is wash them. I'm a firm believer that some people wash their clothing far more than the need to and without nearly enough care. Then again, there are plenty of people who could probably put their jeans or sheets through the wash a few more times per year to great effect.

Besides clothes, one of the main things I do not wash all that often is my hair. This has been in the news in the past months, most notably in this article, which has a snarky and misleading title. It's mostly about women who eschew most at-home hair care in exchange for weekly washes and blowouts. I actually used to be one of these people, long before it was a mainstream trend, because it's a very common practice for the "control" of "ethnic" hair. Bloggers responded in many different ways. Some were repelled by the prospect of rarely washed hair (offensive!), some admitted that they weren't diligent squeaky-cleaners either. There was definitely some confusion on what constituted not washing one's hair (the Times implies it's someone else washing your hair in the salon, perhaps once a week).

For me, not washing my hair means massaging my hair/scalp with conditioner daily, and rinsing thoroughly. The only step I omit is the use of harsh detergents that leave my usually soft curls feeling pretty wiry. I wash my hair either when I get it trimmed at the salon (every six to eight weeks) or if I perform some activity that I feel has left my hair pretty dirty (swimming in a chlorinated pool, for example, or visiting a smoky lounge with my friends). My hair is not naturally greasy, in fact, it's a bit dry, especially when harshly treated with detergents and harsh stylers. For years, hair care professionals have told me that the best way to deal with dry hair, to keep it healthy and strong, was to stop washing and it turns out they were right.

It doesn't hurt that in a quest to get my hair healthy I cut it short (getting rid of some ill-advised highlights) and reduced heat styling to about once a month, but I don't doubt that limiting washing gives the oils in my hair a chance to do whatever it is they do. This is definitely not what most people want to hear, but in the long run it's probably better to work with whatever your natural texture is, unless you want to be one of those people wandering the mall with really frizzled out hair.

I'd ask if you wash your hair everyday (or at all) but I'd hate to start another argument...

neutrogena healthy skin blends sheer highlighting blush

So I've been thinking about blush lately (I'm going to pretend it isn't weirdly appropriate that I'm writing this while re-watching an episode from season one of Dexter on Showtime On-Demand), as one of those cosmetics that can work with very little else. Mascara absolutely falls into this category, and so I have about seven tubes of the stuff in my pencil cup, rather than in the serious makeup storage area. I don't do serious makeup every day, or even many days, it's a twelve times a year sort of deal, which I believe is good for my skin. I have good skin, which I understand is rare and fortunate, and wouldn't want to screw it up. Still, once in a while I sleep a little less than I'd like before showering and heading to class, and on those days, a swipe of mascara (right now I can't decide whether I prefer Cover Girl's Lash Blast or L'Oreal's Voluminous Naturale better-sooner or later I'll post about why I cop attitude about fancy expensive mascara) is something of a confidence boost. Blush, done right, is pretty and light for summertime.

I swore off blush around when I quit dancing and "acting" (not an actress, really bad liar) in school musicals and plays because stage makeup was gross and often applied by really aggressive stage mothers or aspiring "costume people". Blush then always seemed to be big pink or red badly blended patches on the apples of the cheeks. So yes, of course I gave up blush. Interestingly enough, I still love false eyelashes and wear them at every appropriate occasion. Go figure.

Anyway, all this so I can say that I tried this blush today:


The shade in the picture is "Vibrant" I'm pretty sure, but since I wanted something peachy and very warm for the summertime I went with the shade called "Healthy". I find most of Neutrogena cosmetics hues to have ridiculous names meant to make them sound healthier than they probably are, much like the smoothies at Jamba Juice. Silly name aside, I have never had a problem with any of their cosmetics and this was really no exception.

The color went on a little less bright than I might have expected, since the colors in the "blend" are a robust reddish terracotta, a softer but still bold melon, a soft creamy pink with some orange in it, and a rich bronze-y tone. It's probably a good thing it comes on less bright, it's very soft and pretty, extremely feminine. There is a good amount of shimmer in here, but because it is subtle, this is perfectly appropriate for day. I can't totally endorse it until I use it for a few things (maybe I'll even discover that the "Multi-vitamins and botanical conditioners" really "soften and smooth skin"), but I'm pretty and happy that I bought it. I do wish they'd streamline the packaging though; I'm sure most consumers have figured out that the tiny brushes that come with most cosmetics are pretty much useless. This blush is $12.49 at Drugstore.com, not a terrible buy.

Fun fact, in one of my lectures the other day we learned that the scientific term for blushing is vasodilation.

offensive ugliness frumpiness

I am taking a non-writing seminar for my major, because my department suffers from a complete lack of sense. Bitter as I may sound (I don't understand why I can't just take workshops and you know, writing seminars, especially since I'm also concentrating in English), I sort of understand their logic, and more importantly, I understand that since my major is new, they haven't gotten themselves together yet. So I forgive them.

The professor had to cut some people from the class, because at my university, most seminars are capped (but the administration is a little dodgy, and so sometimes forgets to put an enrollment cap) but she did her best to take as many as possible and as a result we are packed quite tightly around the table. This is actually also fine, I much prefer it to another seminar-style class I am taking in which the ten or so of us spread out as though at least five of us suffer from a highly contagious and/or disgusting disease, like leprosy or bad breath.

Anyway, being tightly packed around the table is great, because it facilitates communication, and it keeps everyone awake (hey, two hours one hour and fifty minutes is a long time) and it makes the class feel like the hippy dippy kind of thing you might do at a small liberal arts college. Which is appropriate, because the professor is actually a professor at a very very liberal, hippy dippy kind of college outside of the city, and only visits to teach this seminar.

The downside, however, is that whenever in this class, you are close to others. Like, Listerine close. Did I remember antiperspirant close. Did someone have a bacon, egg and cheese for breakfast close (actually, you totally don't need to be in a tightly packed seminar room for that, first year I took a three-hundred person lecture and this one student would always bring a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich from the nearby deli and the room would smell all cheesy-bacon-y-sweaty).

Recently, I was minding my business, taking notes and so on when I was unfortunate enough to turn and notice that someone near me had exceptionally large, dirty pores, dirty glasses, frizzy hair, etc. Now, I have been a frumpy student once or twice, and the usual excuses are pretty obvious (early classes, no one notices, I'm too much of an academic to care) but none of them impress me. Seriously. I am an extremely hard working student who has pushed myself to the limit many, many times. But I care to much about my body and the way I present myself to others to just abandon reasonable health and beauty measures. 

Now, I know Mona Lisa Smile was a so-so movie (and the tie in book was much, much worse), but I'm using it as an example. Yes, the attitude of these fictional mid-century women is deplorable by modern standards (I only know one or two people who are legitimately seeking affectionately titled Mrs. degrees these days), but for the most part the portrayal in the movie is one of women who are diligent about school and appearance. These women are ladies, and they would skip neither their homework nor a thank you note to an annoying but lovable aunt. Yes, Hollywood magic is at work and I doubt anyone was ever the perfect fifties housewife or the perfect forties co-ed, and I wouldn't ask anyone trying to meet the demands of a top-tier education to set their standards this high.

But, when you know you're going to class, and sitting around a table, would it hurt to put on something decent and wash your face? Clean your glasses, brush your hair and floss? I don't think so. It takes about twenty minutes to do all those things, and unless you're deathly ill, I bet you can afford to cut sleep by twenty minutes. This goes right along with wearing something respectable to class (which Meg over at All About Appearances covers really excellently in this post). Maybe it sounds rude to criticize others for their appearance, but it's rude to the professor and rude to your fellow students to show up looking like you couldn't care less about being there.

Rant over.

the perfect nail color

S, who accompanied me for a pre-opera manicure/pedicure yesterday afternoon, long ago turned me on to a beauty secret I will now share with you, worthy readers. I know everyone is convinced that Essie's Ballet Slippers or something equally dull is the perfect nail color but I think the flaw with Ballet Slippers, which I have worn several times myself (my mother used to do nails) is that it looks better on those with lighter skin. It's not impossible to flatter almost all skin shades with a single hue, think of colors like eggplant, which look nice on practically everyone. No, in my opinion, the perfect nail color (and I am so in awe of this shade that I will continue to refer to it just like that, with italics) is Essie's Guchi Muchi Puchi. This pale pink looks as lovely with a tan as with pale wintery skin, and has enough white and pink in it to show up on everyone. It's ladylike, and although I can see it working in a mod sort of way with the right jewelry, it's mostly just timeless. As S once pointed out, the polish fades really well, so that while your pedicure at first has more purple-y tones, three weeks later it's looking a bit pink (rather than a bit dull). At seven bucks a bottle, Guchi Muchi Puchi is a worthy beauty indulgence.

I'm wearing the overly trendy but decidedly (and yes, I mean "decided by me") sexy Russian Navy on my toes. I like both of these shades enough to own bottles of them.

back to school

One day back and I'm already in heart attack mode.

But, I did want to post on the super-simple face routine I've been doing that has pretty much cleared up all of the little stress-related breakout on my forehead. My skin is normally clear, but once in awhile my anxiety flares and I'll get annoying little whiteheads and reddish bumps. In the summer I usually use plain old Dove bar soap (I know everyone points out how ridiculously bad this is, but it's always worked for me) and Neutrogena moisturizer (with sunscreen!). Sometimes this routine works in the winter, but this year it feels extra dry and I've switched to Cetaphil's gentle cleanser for dry skin (it's this stuff). I spend a good two minutes doing a nice face massage while washing, which is soothing and leaves me all glowy. I'm also using this creme instead of my normal lotion. I borrowed it from my mom one day while I was home over break and find that it's really quite good, although ultra-hydrating so not really for those without dry skin. I don't know if it's keeping me young, but I sort of doubt the anti-aging qualities of most cosmetics. The price tag (I paid about 15$ for two ounces at Walgreens) is more than I generally spend on skin stuff, since I'm spoiled and usually spent almost nothing for bars of soap and less than 10$ a bottle for four ounces of the Neutrogena, but it's working wonders. I've also been doing it twice a day, rather than my normal about three times over two days. If you've got dry skin I really would recommend either product or both. The drawback to the Jason creme is that it doesn't have a sunscreen, so you need one in addition.

Now if I could only figure out what to do with the almost-invisible blackheads on the side of my nose. Product recommendations?

i don't look like it, but i'm totally listening

My mother, like many mothers, raised me not to listen in on other people's conversations. As a child, if I deemed it appropriate to comment upon her private chats, let alone (!) insert myself in medias res, I was practically begging to be grounded from my books (I was a nerd then too). But what about when people are just begging you to hear the juicy bits?

Planning to move back into my sorority house, I scheduled an early haircut (same cut in the city costs twice as much, that's not the sort of household economy I'd like to touch). When I arrived about five minutes late, around nine, the ladies were still readying themselves for the day, procuring breakfast from the sandwich shop next door, unpacking cases full of equipment, and generally yawning their way into a busy Sunday. In fact, I almost felt intrusive, as though I had entered a domestic scene.

After a decent wash (the shampoo girl seems afraid to scrub, perhaps scrubbing is bad for the scalp or hair?), I sat in my usual stylist's chair. And then she and the other ladies proceeded to gossip intently for the forty minutes my cut and blow dry lasted. None of the gossip was offensive, but it was very personal and included a vague description of a client and discussion of her skin infection. In the end, although I thought the woman in question was a bit rude based on the events described in the chatter (she had apparently waited until after a vigorous shampooing to alert the stylists about the infection), I wondered about how I might feel if I had committed a social blunder. True, I would never, ever commit this particular etiquette/beauty sin, but, still. These ladies had viper tongues, and I definitely wouldn't want them to be pointed in my direction.

Is it ever okay for a stylist to gossip about one client in front of or with another client? I'm going with no, even if salacious salon gossip is a tradition. Some traditions (kissing strangers under mistletoe?) ought to be taken out of rotation.

The cut is really cute, although it's the shortest I've ever had.