"The most beautiful makeup for a woman is passion, but cosmetics are easier to buy."
—Yves Saint Laurent
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Favored
Art Tattler
the glamourai
The Non-Blonde
Perfume Shrine
Lisa Eldridge
Garance Doré
Smitten Kitchen
Into The Gloss
Grain de Musc
Lacquerized
Res Pulchrae
Drivel About Frivol The Selfish Seamstress
Killer Colours
Bois de Jasmin Glossed In Translation
Jak and Jil
Toto Kaelo
Worship at the House of Blues
I Smell Therefore I Am
Food Wishes
The Natural Haven
Messy Wands
1000 Fragrances
Moving Image Source
Wondegondigo
The Emperor's Old Clothes
M. Guerlain
Colin's Beauty Pages
Barney's jewelry department
Parfümrien
loodie loodie loodie
The Straight Dope
Sea of Shoes
London Makeup Girl
Sakecat's Scent Project
Asian Models
Ratzilla Cosme
Smart Skincare
Illustrated Obscurity
A.V. Club
Tom & Lorenzo: Mad Style
Eiderdown Press
Beauty and the Bullshit
La Garçonne Flame Warriors Everyday Beauty
Fashion Gone Rogue
Now Smell This
Dempeaux
Fashionista
The Cut
A Fevered Dictation
Nathan Branch
101 Cookbooks
As I make ready to return to Shanghai at the end of February - a more semi-permanent move this time, for the purposes of a new job - I have been sifting through the stacks of worldly belongs that have accumulated in my family home in Sydney, trying to decide what I need to take with me. This is obviously not the time to be buying still more stuff that will not fit into my 30kg luggage allowance, and yet I persist. What gives?
SNIFFING
China, and even the glittering fount of cosmopolitanism that is Shanghai, is a bit of a desert wasteland when it comes to perfumes. Another cause for distress: glass bottles full of alcohol are not the easiest (or most light-weight) things to take onto a plane. I shall have to hope that a few full-sized bottles of perennial favourites (Fille en Aiguilles, Vetiver Oriental, Bandit, Timbuktu) and a hefty cosmetics bag full of decants (many of them courtesy of Dain) and Travalos will serve until I can next spare the time for a trip back in Sydney. In the meantime, I am spraying myself with clouds of scents that didn't make the full-bottle cut, and rediscovering in the process perfumes that I haven't worn in ages (Like This by Etat Libre d'Orange), not to mention new purchases that I have not spent nearly enough time with (Juliette Has A Gun Vengeance Extreme).
LISTENING
Alberto Iglesias' incredibly atmospheric score for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which I really hope will win the Oscar for best score come February 26th. This is the second Le Carre adaptation that Iglesias has written the music for (the other was The Constant Gardener, a very differently flavoured soundtrack for which he also garnered an Oscar nomination), and he captures the paranoia and the elegiac tone of both book and film to perfection.
READING
I have no self-control when I step into a bookstore. My backlog of "new books I have yet to read" is so long, it could probably make for a small library in itself. Yet a book, I tell myself, is something that will never truly go to waste. What's more, I like to know that I'm doing my part in keeping the commercial publishing industry alive; the printed word, too, because, goodness knows, I spend a lot more on paper books than I do on new airplane-reading-material for my Kindle. Of the latest additions to my shelves (image below), I think the two volumes of Camus' notebooks (a gift from Melissa) will come with me to China.
The new (newish?) Daniel Mendelsohn translation of Constantine P. Cavafy's collected poetry ("The streets in which you pace/will be the same, you'll haunt the same familiar places,/and inside those same houses you'll grow old") is proving to be a delight, possibly even surpassing my abiding affection for the Rae Dalven translations ("Every effort of mine is a condemnation of fate;/and my heart is - like a corpse - buried"). But it will probably stay behind, purely on account of its size. The rest? Well, I guess I'd better get cracking reading.
WEARING
Whether I'm pairing it with a cream kitten-bow blouse at work or a casual white tee (and a statement necklace in chunky, rough-hewn amber) over the weekend, my navy Brother Skirt from Les Prairies de Paris is all class in a relaxed sort of way, with its two side pockets, strip of black suede running down the front, and hem just skimming the knees.
I have been wearing wool pencil skirts a lot lately; and blazers; and knits. The funny thing is that the weather has been so peculiar this summer in Sydney that it will hardly be much of a shock to the system to fly across the equator and suddenly find myself in a northern winter rather than the chilliest southern summer in my own personal memory. I wouldn't have to do anything more than throw on a coat.
An even more satisfying acquisition than my Les Prairies skirt, is my new Ole Lynggaard Sweet Drops bracelet. Not three weeks after I wrote this post about the Sweet Drops, I added one to my small, extremely select collection of "every day" jewellery. After near half an hour looking through the selection at Jordan's Jewellers (Market Street, Sydney), I eventually picked out an olive wrap-around leather bracelet, and a white gold/moonstone "Dew Drop" and silver/black onyx "Sweet Drop" to wear on it. It was a tough decision to make. Seeing them in person, one cannot fail to appreciate how carefully and meticulously they have been crafted. Each of the "Dew Drops" and "Sweet Drops" have a clasp that allows them to hold tightly to the band without scratching the soft leather. Each is further designed to hang only at a certain angle; the charms have room for movement, but not so much that they can rotate 360 degrees around the band and irritate the wearer. My bracelet is easy, understated, and a joy to wear.
EATING
All the things that I will miss in China: fresh (and affordable) mangoes/figs/papaya/avocados, Australian yogurt, Whisk & Pin gluten-free muesli, an Italian-strength espresso, newly shucked oysters that don't cost an arm and a leg (and won't lead to food-poisoning), really good Lebanese food… I could go on and on.
Labels: albert camus, alberto iglesias, cavafy, consumer diaries, etat libre d'orange, juliette has a gun, les prairies de paris, ole lynggaard, shanghai
2/14/2012 [2]
I'm currently swamped by finals, so I'm jotting down this post as a chronicle of the material comforts that distract me from worthier pursuits at the moment, and a taste of (tentative) future blog posts to come.
I originally downloaded Songbird for Eva Cassidy's rendition of "Fields of Gold," which I had overheard at a café and taken a liking to. Now "liking" doesn't begin to describe what her voice makes me feel: a week of cramming from morning to midnight, with breaks only for sleep and meals, had left me feeling numb and wrung dry of all emotion, so it took me quite aback to find my cheeks wet by the time I was done listening.
I've always had difficulty accepting the fashion dogma dictating that the right shoes are an essential investment. Honestly, can one expect a humble pair of shoes to be so modest and well-mannered as to be able to go with every outfit one owns (within reason, obviously one wouldn't wear strappy sandals with a parka in winter) but also to be classy enough to prevent said outfits from relapsing into incoherence, or worse, dowdiness? I believed that such shoes did not exist, at least not for me and my pocketbook... until I saw these babies, at which point my jaw immediately dropped to the floor. They aren't unattainable either, as the seller (whom I found through Gmarket) makes shoes to custom fit at a reasonable price point: 100,000~150,000 won for a pair of custom made shoes is not bad at all. If I can make myself wait until third year to splurge, I will probably make the excuse that I will need shoes to go with the dressy work-appropriate clothes required for clinical rounds.
There are some things that you don't even realize you've been missing until you come across them again, albeit in much reduced form. Snyders of Hanover and their smashed pretzel pieces, coated in an oily residue of intensely flavored powder, is one of these: I ran across these by chance in a Korean convenience store, picked a couple up for old-time's-sake... and was immediately overtaken by a wave of nostalgia. The little baggies sold in Korea are a far-cry from the larder-busting sacks I remember from my childhood, but at least the contents pass the All-American munchie purity test in their hypertension-inducing powerfully-seasoned goodness. My favorites are Garlic Bread (loaded with artificial butter and garlic pungent as the real thing), and Honey Mustard & Onion (the mordant quality of honey played up by vinegary mustard and the sulfuric bite of onion).
I've been a fan of Kirsten Lepore for quite some time now. She seems to be much like her work: sweet, creative, subtly subversive, and totally unpretentious.
I got my hair permed last August, but the job was done carelessly, it seems: after a few weeks the waves started appearing messy and disorganized. Then I tried Aesop Rose Hair & Scalp Moisturising Masque, and to my delight found that it not only softens coarse dry ends, but also gives wavy hair beautiful definition.
I admire people who can do anything creative... paint, sing, dance, throw pots, make movies, even program computers. So much so, that I've never been content to simply admire: it's always the talent I've coveted and jealously worshipped, the paraphernalia associated with the creative act that I fetishize more than the creation itself (aluminum tubes of oil paints made from ground-up minerals, rolls of film and the silver chemicals required to develop them, toe-shoes of creamy satin, among others). Something snapped recently, though, and I'm no longer content to simply sit by the sidelines worshipping (and envying) others for what I haven't created for myself. Life drawing is a manageable, flexible, and inexpensive hobby, as far as artistic hobbies go, and a sketchbook, drawing pencils, a kneaded eraser, and a paper cone for blending don't require much more than a moderate investment. I admit, buying new equipment is, on some level, just a way to satisfy my old obsession, but this time I'm determined to work at realizing my creative impulses rather than settle for vicarious and symbolic possession of something that can never be "possessed" to begin with, but only earned through constant effort.
Labels: aesop, animation, consumer diaries, eva cassidy, kirsten lepore, snyder's
12/20/2010 [1]
WATCHING
There has been exactly one season of America's Next Top Model that I've missed. Otherwise, there has not been one moment that I've missed, and the mayhem has gotten even better with the addition of Andre Leon Talley, who has become my New Favorite Thing.
READING
I've recently gotten back into reading American Vogue. It's something I fall in and out of touch with. The last couple of months have had more interesting articles and editorials to me than in the previous months. Plus, I think that step away made me appreciate it more. I get Vogue now. It's not meant to be taken seriously, really. It's meant to be some reportage of the real world of very privileged people saying very frivolous things and 90% fantasy, an exploration of what happens when you combine very fanciful, exquisite clothing with an Upper East Side sensibility. Because let's face it - even when Vogue does street, it's Lily and Serena van der Woodsen's* idea of "street," not Jenny's. Or even Vanessa's.
This image, sadly, is from Vogue Italia, which promotes captivating cover art, and not American Vogue, which does not.
DAUBING
Laura Mercier Metallic Creme Eye Colour in Burnished Copper ($22) has turned out to be a sleeper hit in my stash. I probably swatched this color for the first time a year or two ago and fell in love with its complexity, with hints of gold and orange suspended in shimmery red brown. I did not fall in love with the price or the likelihood of it's having very poor lasting power on my very oily lids. I finally caved on it a few months ago and find it's now one of my very favorite toys to reach for. I've found that using the smudger side of a cheap Sephora brush to thinly line my top and bottom lashes works beautifully to give a either a crisp, opaque line or a smudgier, sheer finish, depending on how I work the brush. I then either leave the line as is and tightline with black liner or add NYX's Eggplant or Red Bean Pie on top of Burnished Copper for a vibrant, shimmery pop of purple (the purple side of NARS Eurydice works well, too). The key to the look is Too Faced Shadow Insurance, which gives Burnished Copper lasting power and opacity (it's too sheer otherwise).
WEARING
I'm really not a fan of leggings as outerwear. I think they lend the wearer to laziness and are largely unflattering. However, I had to break down and buy some when my tights failed to keep me warm in an unreasonably cold, bleak winter. I ended up getting these brushed leggings from Gap ($19.50) in athletic grey and black on sale (which look like they've sold out, leaving only navy). I get it now; there is nothing more comfortable than wearing something formfitting, soft and soothing on the skin. I leave mine under clothes or for loungewear, though.
LISTENING
I have a job that requires me to sit in front of a computer eight hours a day. It is very tedious and very boring (and so are my coworkers). To get through it, I listen to YouTube videos all day long. My favorites are cosmetics reviews and Ricky Gervais podcasts/radio edits. This is one of my favorite Karl Pilkington stories. I just like how he takes something somewhat commonplace and normal - the discussion of cloning - and weaves it into this bizarrely fantastical tale that has its own sense of the commonplace and ordinary to it.
WISHLIST
This could take an age.
I knew I was in trouble when BleachBlack's Kristin posted this ring a couple of weeks ago. The site's coauthors have extended their collaboration with Urban Outfitters to include this ring. Though I typically don't wear jewelry, I think I could make an exception for something this stand-out and unusual, particularly as it is only $18 and I have a 10% UO code.
I've been excited about MAC's upcoming Art Supplies collection for a couple of months (US release date April 1; international release later in month). The collection features new Pearlglides and Pro Longwear Lipstain Markers, both of which I wanted to invest in heavily. I love Pearlglides; as I've discussed extensively with Dain, Dorothy, and Anne, my eyelids are too oily to keep on any gel pencil liners except these, which have the requisite grit to stay through the day. I was also excited to try the Lipstain Markers, having grown to prefer lip stains over gloss and lipstick. I'm a bit disappointed by the initial reviews, none of which are impressed with the color range of the Lipstain Markers, with some even saying they smell bad and taste weird. However, everyone's in agreement: the Pearlglides rock. I'm going to get mine on April 1 (I'll be damned if I miss out on these). The ones I'm particularly interested in are Undercurrent, a teal base with gold and green flecks, and Almost Noir, a browned-out plum.
While I'm at MAC, I'd also like a 208 Brow Brush ($19.50). I've never had a brush specifically made for the brow area, and let's be honest, some days it shows.
*In a total aside, perhaps Lily and Serena are the creepy Stepford, less cool, parallax universe version of Judy and Jane Aldridge?
Labels: america's next top model, consumer diaries, gap, gossip girl, laura mercier, mac, sea of shoes, urban outfitters, vogue
3/27/2010 [2]
Image by 무적핑크 (Super Pink); captions translated by Anne.
My favorite webcomic is "Realistic and Objective Fairy Tales," which is the doing of art student Mujeok-Pink, or "Super Pink" in English. Super Pink takes canonical tales and puts a fresh spin on them, taking the narrative in a totally unexpected direction; her repertoire includes the Grimms brothers, traditional Korean folktales, Aesop's fables, works of fiction such as Oscar Wilde's "The Happy Prince" and O. Henry's "The Last Leaf," as well as cultural idioms such as Tetris. New episodes are posted weekly, and are by turns cynical, silly, profound, or even tragic... but always side-splittingly funny.
I've recently become a huge fan of Jaurim and have a bit of a girl-crush on their lead singer Kim Yoon-Ah (not to be confused with the equally beautiful and talented Kim Yuna). Lest you take soulless bubblegum/sexed-up K-pop for Korean music, I tell you, this is the real thing, and I was elated to discover it. Since Jaurim began on the indie scene in 1997, their unique sound has been described as "elfin" or "catlike," due in large part to Kim Yoon-Ah's keening, expressive voice—in my humble opinion, a voice none can listen to and stay indifferent. Plus, the woman really rocks a wine-stained lip.
I bought a knit piece this last fall that can only be described as "a scarf with sleeves," or "two sleeves knitted into a scarf." I regretted the decision at first, wondering where I would wear a scarf with sleeves. As it turns out, everywhere. It goes around the neck like a normal scarf and also slips over the hands for immediate warmth—no need to fiddle with taking gloves on and off. And it looks chic enough, as it drapes like a shawl without the fuss of trying to keep one on your shoulders. If you plunge your entire arm into the slit of the sleeve, you can even create a shrug (as seen above on the model).
Since the weather has grown dry I apply body moisturizer after showering, but of late, my skin has become dry and flaky. No amount of moisturizer I use seems to make a difference: indeed, the rougher my skin gets, the worse the moisturizer absorbs. So yesterday, I went straight to The Face Shop and picked up their Sweet Body Moisture Exfoliator. I like that it's an all-in-one product—a "moisturizing" body wash with exfoliating microbeads—and it did help smoothe my winter-chapped legs and ankles, but it didn't give me the "skin-like-silk" feeling I expected from an exfoliator (maybe I'm just picky). It may help to leave the skin to soak and to use very generous amounts of the stuff—at any rate, I plan to be using this product up fast as possible so that I can move on to L'Oreal Exfotonic, which gets very good reviews, though twice as expensive.
While I was there, I also picked up this "natural jelly cleansing puff," which I am much more impressed with. It's a round sponge made from a plant-based jelly, and is consequently so soft and soothing on the skin that you'd never guess it exfoliates as well. I also have my eye on Scholl Rough Skin Removing Foot Cream.
I recently had occasion to visit "Bakseok Gogae," a restaurant specializing in north-of-the-DMZ-style food—and considering that North Korea borders on the windswept plains of Northern China and Siberia, it makes sense that North Koreans do winter comfort food like nobody's business. The pancakes (topped with egg and done to the perfect pitch of golden-brown) and dumplings are delicious, but the keystone of the menu is the "kalgooksoo," handmade noodles served in a rich beef bone broth and garnished with succulent zucchini and kimchi.
Besides that, nothing is more comforting in winter than a blanket and a hot cup of tea. I'm growing very fond of mint tea, its quiet piquancy providing another kind of pick-me-up altogether different from the tarred rush of coffee.
Labels: comics, consumer diaries, jaurim, kim yoon-ah, l'oreal, scholl, the face shop, 무적핑크 (super pink)
12/17/2009 [4]
The weather has been gorgeous.
After four and a half months away at school, I've finally had a chance to come home to Toronto. And oh, what a relief it is to be home. While I can live happily in cities smaller than Toronto, I remain a city girl, and the town where I've been going to school is much too small, expensive, under-serviced and car-dependent for me. Alas, I'm not done with it yet; my lease is not yet over, my graduation ceremony is this week, and I have numerous loose ends to tie up before I leave for good. But oh, believe me, I will be leaving for good.
During my two-week break, I have been catching up with friends, babbling at my family, snuggling my beloved cat, and revelling in the pleasures of home: abundant sidewalks, walkable and varied neighbourhoods, a halfway functioning transit system (essential, since I don't know how to drive), cheap restaurants, my brother's PS3, and oh yes, shopping.
When I first sampled Après l'Ondée, more than a year ago, I was displeased and perplexed. I believe the phrase I used at the time was "urinal cake". Did I get a bad sample? Does it need to be sprayed instead of dabbed? I have given away the sample; I can't compare it with the scent I idly spritzed in Toronto's Guerlain boutique last week, only to discover that I'd fallen in love. Was it the warm weather, the exhaust in the air, that made this ever-chilly scent -- anise and violets in a spring mist -- so suddenly, absurdly appealing? I was astonished. I had to buy it.
I try (I do!) not to be profligate in acquiring makeup, but I am a sucker for red lipstick. I own more variations on red lipstick than any woman ought to have: corals, bricks, wines. My latest is YSL Rouge Pur in 131, Opium Red, which gets raves on Makeupalley; now I know why. This is a rich, glowing, deep red, faintly warm, utterly beautiful. Alas, it bleeds like mad, necessitating the use of lip brushes, lipliner, concealer, the whole shebang.
I finished watching The Wire when I should have been studying. I fear I have become one of those tedious Wire evangelists, but seriously, this show is fantastic; once you get past the in-medias-res confusion of the first episodes (a process that must be repeated with every season of the show) it becomes the most complex, gripping, twisted tragedy. I am now in withdrawal: I've watched The Wire, I've seen all of Battlestar Galactica, Deadwood and Six Feet Under, Mad Men does not return until August, I'm not quite ready to take on The Sopranos, what should I do? Am I ready for another show? Perhaps not. Lately I have been using the TV to upgrade my Rock Band 2 skills, not quite the same sort of thing.
Labels: consumer diaries, guerlain, the wire, ysl
5/24/2009 [4]
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