Wacky Wednesday
Courtesy of the New York Times
PW Style Blog hearts Glamour magazine. They’ve always got great links to beauty tips, nail polish giveaways, and information on how to design your own Chanel bag. However, we’re not so sure how we feel about how Glamour feels about it’s readers. Apparently Glamour readers are supposed to be cheerful and bright – like cupcakes?
Marie Claire, which we suppose is Glamour’s direct competitor doesn’t just discuss cupcakes. They explain party myths and how common misconceptions might get you in trouble. Read up before you drink up.
Fashion week in NYC means random events throughout the city as usual with a fashionista twist. Check out this list — the Olsen twins are working as DJ’s?
Philly.com features Fall Trends and women in Philadelphia workin’ Market Street like it’s a runway. Philly.com also pointed the way to this inspiring article from Elle magazine. A homeless girl still found a way to blog and keep herself relevant, as well as catch the eye of an editor at the fashion bible. The story is better in the words of the one that lived it. Luckily, you can read the writings of this young woman who has already overcome so much. She’s currently being featured as a blogger on Elle’s website.
Good Morning Angel(s)
In case you’ve haven’t quite gotten your fill of celebrity death news in the past two weeks, the PW Style blog has one more tribute to golden gal Farrah Fawcett .
The iconic actress may have been known best for her appearance on the first season Charlie’s Angels, but what really cemented her place in every teenage boy in America’s heart was her undeniable California-girl sex appeal. Golden skin, genuinely sweet smile and, most importantly, that big, beautiful mass of beachy waves.
A halo of pure ring-spun gold, enveloping-nay enlightening-the rest of the pin up beauty. Who doesn’t, to this day still, ache for the kind of hair that defies all weather, remaining silky, shiny, and big on the most humid of days? Who doesn’t want hair that has every man within a 20-foot radius stopped in their tracks amidst such a heavenly glow? The ’80s teased-hair heyday may be over, but there are plenty of tactful ways of channeling Fawcett’s touchable tendrils without crossing over to dreaded Cher territory.
Big, a concoction brought to you by the always fragrant Walnut Street beauty boutique Lush , is essentially, Farrah in a bottle. I’ve long been a fan of the all natural shampoo, having had far too many shower sessions involving hard Philly water and too much scrubbing.
The salty shampoo manages to somehow clean and sheen even the thickest of hair. Although a bit off-putting at first glance-the large chunks of sea salt in a lemony broth don’t exactly inspire any Herbal Essence showergasms-after a quick rinse through my tresses I’ve suddenly got bubbles tumbling down my back. Follow up with frizz-fighting conditioner and you’ve got a match made in heaven. Post-shower locks aren’t just lustrous, they’re damn near boisterous.
And a little goes along way, which means that $20 bill I parted with will last me through an Indian summer and beyond. Bonus: lemon+summer sun=lots of natural golden highlights. Farrah who?
Now, if only we had a Charlie to wake up to.
Sunshine Day
Courtesy of Glamour.com
One of my obsessions in the summer months is definitely strawberries. It looks like the writers at Glamour share my appreciation for the summertime fruit.
Keeping your hair healthy is hard work, especially during the summer months. Being somewhat of a bottle blonde myself…I don’t go Heidi Pratt light, but I do have highlights…I know first hand how dry hair can get and that it needs extra attention. Here are some tips from Marie Claire to keep your tresses in tip top shape.
Maybe this is a little bit too much information, but website TresSugar has compiled a list of Maxi Pad Ads from different decades. I found it facinating. You can pass on it if you’d like, but’s just interesting to see adds from different decades. TresSugar also put together a list of what they call ‘Must Reads’ for July. Worth looking at for trips to the beach.
The page of TresSugar however, that I’m so excited about is the slideshow featuring girls that wear glasses! A flamboyant boy last weekend told me that glasses are having ‘a moment’ which made me really happy since I’ve been wearing spectacles since I had an eye injury last October. After wearing contacts for 10 years, it’s an interesting shift to say the least. TresSugar is helping make that shift just a little bit easier.
Also, Coach has a new collection called ‘Poppy.’ The website is fun to click through as well as utilize to drool over overpriced handbags.
Lastly, Perez put up a video of Kendra of Girls Next Door fame’s wedding. It’s cute. And, if you’re not a fan of Kendra’s laugh, not to worry. She doesn’t giggle too much.
Rat Tales
Eva Mendez wearing Jimmy Choo's
Famed Shoe Designer Jimmy Choo is collaborating with H&M! This article from the Wall Street Journal gives more details, but all you really need to know is the shoes will be avaliable in the fall. Ahh!
All this rain doesn’t make for such fun times with the flat iron. I’ve been trying to figure out how to create the perfect curls for the past few days, and while I’ve had some ok waves, Marie Claire explains how to get full out ringlets. They even have a video if you’re a visual learner like I am…or if you just like videos.
The Metro’s style blogger speaks out against 80’s trends that she thinks should never come back. Reading it made me remember how protective some little boys were over their rat tails in the early 90’s. I think it was a hard thing to let go of for some. Why did that ever seem like a good idea? ‘Mommy…I want a rat tail!’ What?
The Metro also did a list of things that Organic Beauty Product Company founder Yael Alkalay likes. It’s like a Hippie Oprah list. Nice.
Free Stuff Friday: Double Time
First: an apology. I moved last Friday and in the midst of frantic packing, saying Hail Marys for a rain-free weekend and fighting with my boyfriend over old issues of Gourmet magazine, I forgot to give something away.
I’ll make it up to you now. Two free things! Two Friday Catty Hour videos! Sunshine!
First: Summer Rose beauty powder from MAC’s limited edition A Rose Romance Collection. Originally retails at $22.
Second: Just a Pinch gel blush, also from the Rose Romance Collection. Originally retails at $19.50.
So how do you get it? Send an email to epalan@philadelphiaweekly.com with the subject line “FREE STUFF FRIDAY!” In the body of the email include a link to the funniest cat video you can find on the internet. We’ll post the winner’s video in our Friday Catty Hour before we head out for the weekend.
Browmance
It seems that Michelle Obama’s eyebrows have gotten some bad reviews. I noticed that her arches were a bit high, but Glamour goes into more detail than that. That said, I am a HUGE threading fan.
After getting burned during a routine eye brow wax, I’ve been afraid of the hot, gooey stuff. My eyebrows tend to do this scary antler thing when they aren’t maintained, so au natural is not an option. When left to my own devices, I tweeze entirely too much. I always enlist the help of others for the brows.
Threading is more precise than waxing, and less painful. It’s sort of difficult to explain, but it reminds me of all of the levels in Cat’s Cradle that I could never get to. As in, it’s fascinating and intricate looking. NBC10 did a report on Thread Beauty Bar near Rittenhouse Square, which aids in explaining what exactly threading is. Threading is the best option if you take any acne medications or have sensitive skin.
I’ve gotten my eyebrows threaded in New York, London, really anywhere I can. Good places to get your eyebrows thread in Philly are few and far between. Thread is one of the greats. I’m a fan. You should be too.
American Apparel is wonderful since it doesn’t use sweatshops and all, but what’s up with them showing no love for the big girls? The Frisky says you can still wear these ’skinny’ fashions, even if you aren’t a size zero.
Lastly, I love a good Dutch bike. Apparently the NY Times does too. Their most recent article focuses on not looking like, well, a tool. There is a way to remain professional looking while pedaling down the street.
A farewell to Mustache March
General Robin Olds and his bulletproof mustache
So this whole month I’ve been unenthusiastically swept up into “Mustache March,” due to my boyfriend’s lab’s participation. According to Air Force legend:
Mustache March originated during the Vietnam War when a fighter pilot named Robin Olds grew what he called a “bulletproof mustache.” At the time mustaches weren’t allowed to be sported in the military, but Olds, who was far from home on a military base in ‘Nam, thought the stache defined his individuality, so he kept it. This occurred in the month of March 1965.
Once Olds returned home in April, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. McConnell, who wasn’t fond of Olds’s defiance, greeted him. McConnell walked up to him, stuck a finger under his nose and ordered, “Take it off.” Olds replied, “Yes, sir.”
Thus the roots of Mustache March were born. Air Force pilots now devote one month of defiance of the Air Force facial hair regulations as a way of good-natured protest, and pay to tribute to General Robin Olds.
The male scientists’ plan was a competition to grow the biggest and best facial hair in one month, but after a while most of their girlfriends and wives said “Ha ha ha that was funny but now it is time to get rid of that monstrosity.” The head of the lab got rid of his because his young daughters would no longer kiss him goodnight.
My boyfriend has been the only one in his lab still mustached for a couple weeks or so now and so is kind of automatically the winner at this point, but he has decided to hold out for the entire month for pride’s sake.
But today is the final day! I held out! I didn’t complain that much! I only started laughing at inappropriately intimate moments like three or four times! And tomorrow is my reward: the mustache comes off.
And now a celebration of the fact that it will be at least another year, if not more, before I am asked if I want a mustache ride: the top ten mustaches I am totally OK with. What mustaches do you view as acceptable?
Rappers better run and hide ’cause here comes the Beehive
These comic book step-by-step instructions for giving yourself a beehive kind of make me wish I hadn’t chopped off two feet of hair in a fit of boredom. I’m sorry for throwing you away before I did anything fun with you, hair. I didn’t treat you right.
R Session’s Pin-up girl kit, $21.99, comes with an instruction manual and a whole bunch of stuff so you can give yourself either the beehive or the slightly less voluminous “perfect ponytail” or “super chic bun.” Most of the stuff is pretty normal (brush, bobby pins, clips, elastics, etc.) with the exception of the hair bun, which is the weird macaroni-shaped thing in the top panel that you may have been wondering about. It apparently poofs the whole thing up.
P.S. Queen Bee, why did you have to go and be on Dancing With the Stars like that