Notes from the Editors of The Lipstick Page Forums: A Dedication to the Art of Beauty and Fashion.

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· Culture Notes: Childhood
· Montale Blue Amber review
· Fashion Notes: Addicted to J. Crew?
· Some notes on the origin of this site.
· Eye makeup for x eyes
· Beauty & Fashion Notes: The Buyer's Guide to Independent Art and Design
· Fashion Notes: The Sartorialist
· Here's something I'd like to try before I die...
· Culture Notes: The Game of Life
· Nars Holiday 2007: Siren Song
· Beauty and Fashion Notes: this 'n' that
· Montale Aoud Blossom review
· We've pimped our MySpace profile.
· Makeover program where you can try on hair styles, hair colors, and makeup
· Update on Giovanni Cosmetics Tea Tree Triple Treat shampoo
· New feature on our front page
· Culture Notes: California music part 4 (Southern)
· Fashion Notes: Dain's hyperconsumerism commentary

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Comments
· November 10, 2007 7:40 PM by Blogger Dain
· November 10, 2007 8:38 PM by Blogger Colleen Shirazi
· April 20, 2008 1:32 PM by Blogger cyberpenguin
· April 20, 2008 1:34 PM by Blogger cyberpenguin
· November 10, 2007 7:41 PM by Blogger Dain
· November 10, 2007 8:43 PM by Blogger Colleen Shirazi
· November 10, 2007 11:01 PM by Blogger Anne
· November 12, 2007 11:47 PM by Blogger Colleen Shirazi
· November 7, 2007 3:14 PM by Blogger Dain
· November 7, 2007 5:13 PM by Blogger Dain
· November 7, 2007 11:49 PM by Blogger Colleen Shirazi
· November 6, 2007 1:58 AM by Blogger Dain
· November 6, 2007 2:10 AM by Blogger Colleen Shirazi
· November 6, 2007 2:29 AM by Blogger Dain
· November 6, 2007 2:31 AM by Blogger Dain
· November 6, 2007 2:34 AM by Blogger Colleen Shirazi
· November 6, 2007 2:37 AM by Blogger Dain
· November 9, 2007 12:35 PM by Blogger Colleen Shirazi
· November 5, 2007 5:10 PM by Blogger Dain
· November 5, 2007 10:38 PM by Blogger Colleen Shirazi
· November 2, 2007 2:51 PM by Blogger Dain
· November 2, 2007 2:47 PM by Blogger Dain
· November 3, 2007 1:36 AM by Blogger Colleen Shirazi
· November 3, 2007 1:37 AM by Blogger Colleen Shirazi

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The Lipstick Page Forums Beauty & Fashion Blog: November 2007


Culture Notes: Childhood
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Tuesday, November 13, 2007 11:21 PM (Eastern)

chrysler museum

Though I arrived here on the shores of California ;) twenty-two years ago, in a car I'd bought with my United States Postal Service wages...Toyota Corolla four-door sedan, dark blue beneath a glaze of golden dust from Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and the California desert...with four thousand dollars' worth of travellers checks in my purse...absence does make the heart grow fonder. I haven't been back to Virginia since then, but I was looking for photos of Norfolk online the other night.

The funny part of this image of the Chrysler Museum is its perspective. I suppose it was meant to be taken at an artistic angle, but this is the statue as I used to see it...the statue is on a round platform. I'd like to say the platform is towering, but in all likelihood it's only a few feet high.

Keeping in mind we had nothing better to do--no computers, cable television, VCR's, some people still had black-and-white tv's--the neighborhood kids used to climb this statue. I've climbed it myself many times.

There's a little garden to the right, which had an iron fence. If you were young enough, you could squeeze between the rails of this fence and visit the garden when the museum was closed. I still remember the day I became too old to fit through.

The complete statue has a horse with a guy on it, reaching down to the guy on the ground. The little kids used to climb on the head of the guy on the ground (or technically, on the loop his other arm made), while the more daring climbed onto the horse itself. A few maniacs used to go all the way to sit on the horse's head.

image courtesy city-data.com

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Montale Blue Amber review
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Sunday, November 11, 2007 2:33 PM (Eastern)

montale blue amberThere was a lot of fuss about this scent on various boards, which is why I wanted to try it. Fortunately, in this day and age, we are privileged to be able to buy expensive scents in sample form...because, for me, "fuss" does not translate into "buy unsniffed"; it translates into "sample-worthy."

I tried this out on my wrist a few times and was a bit impressed. Like all the other Montale perfumes, you don't get the full effect unless you really apply it. So much of the scent hinges on its development on your skin. My initial impression-- Montale Blue Amber (preliminary sniff)--was of a Montale binary scent, two notes, rendered perfectly. But nothing to write home about.

I revisited Blue Amber yesterday, on one of those cold, damp days, and was more duly impressed. If you fairly slather it on, the superiority of those same two notes--amber and vanilla--emerges. Because usually, this type of scent is too sweet, too fake, too...obvious? This rendition is as dry as can be, with the signature vanilla of Montale, the kind that makes you drool without annoying you (I was never that big on gourmand scents until Montale). The amber reminds me of an actual piece of amber, if you've smelled one. Sweetish, a tad pine-y, like a hike through the woods in winter, when you're tramping on a bunch of fallen leaves, there's a ring of ice circling the pond, and a stillness.

So I had this on...one of the virtues of this brand is its sheer strength and lasting power. You get to smell yourself all day, so, it had better be good! The positive qualities can seem more positive because of that simple fact. But all of that said, Blue Amber deserves at least some of the hype, for its purity and odd...I really want to say binary quality, the simplicity of two notes, rather than a stew.

You could always layer this with a floral perfume if you wanted more complexity. I know that sounds horrible, since it costs a lot. I'm reluctant myself to buy it, at least until I suss out how well the Montale's keep, but the concept itself doesn't disturb me. If you wanted a day of amber and vanilla, you could always do that, or you could play around with it.

Like their Boisé Vanillé, this is dry enough to be worn by a man.

armistice day

image courtesy luckyscent.com

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Fashion Notes: Addicted to J. Crew?
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Saturday, November 10, 2007 6:14 PM (Eastern)

JCrew-a-holics R Us: Resistance is Futile!

I had come across this blog before, a while ago. I can admit I don't belong to J.A., but I have owned some J.Crew items and consider at least some of the addiction to be legitimate.

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November 10, 2007 7:40 PM, Blogger Dain said...

They make good clothes, durable but thoughtful basics. I always feel slightly apologetic for liking J. Crew (how collegiate, how New England, how preppy), but it beats out Banana Republic by a long shot for quality.

 
November 10, 2007 8:38 PM, Blogger Colleen Shirazi said...

Definitely...Banana Republic went down the tubes some years ago. It used to be very good.

I prefer J.Crew myself, although I'm thinking more and more about American Apparel, or fiddling around with indie houses.

 
April 20, 2008 1:32 PM, Blogger cyberpenguin said...

This post has been removed by the author.

 
April 20, 2008 1:34 PM, Blogger cyberpenguin said...

Hi Colleen,

Thanks for the shoutout!

As you can see from my blog, "JCrew-a-holics R Us," (http://jcrewaholic.blogspot.com), I write no-nonsense reviews of JCrew fashions. Sometimes I like what they do, & sometimes I don't; either way, it's all detailed there in my blog. The blog is written from the customer perspective, & while, I'm certainly a fan of their clothing for the most part, I don't work for the company at all. (I run my own fashion retail business, Ferlanti Couture, http://ferlanti.com, & also do fashion consulting via Liveperson (http://liveperson.com/cyberfashionista).

I wouldn't necessarily classify my own fashion identity as preppy, as I like to take inspiration from various fashion sources, but JCrew's clothing still appeals to me a great deal. Sure, they're great for basics like their chinos & perfect-fit tees, but what I really like about them is their quality, out-of-the-ordinary pieces in bright & unusual colors that can't be found anywhere else. That's why I look forward to shopping there.

JCrew has evolved a lot since their humble beginnings as a small catalog company & is not just for the college prepster crowd anymore. ;-) While it's true that a lot of preppies & college kids do like their clothing & that they excel at basics & classic clothing, JCrew has also significantly expanded their product lines & revamped their brand image, to appeal to a more fashion-forward audience. Prime examples of this include their limited-edition JCrew Collection line, & the accompanying JCrew Collection flagship store on Madison Avenue, & new signature pieces from their women's line (i.e., like the Camilla jacket, which I just recently blogged about: http://jcrewaholic.blogspot.com/2008/04/yesterdays-store-visit-what-fantastic.html).

These are the kind of innovative designs JCrew is becoming known for all over the fashion universe. Of course, this relatively recent shift in JCrew's fashion zeitgeist is no coincidence; the changes are due, in no small part, to visionary CEO Mickey Drexler, who was hired in January 2003 to revitalize the company's brand image, & move it forward into the future.

If you're curious to read more about JCrew's ever-evolving brand image, etc., you're welcome to read more about it on my blog, http://jcrewaholic.blogspot.com. ;-)

 
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Some notes on the origin of this site.
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, 5:36 PM (Eastern)

Four stages of acceptance:

i) this is worthless nonsense;
ii) this is an interesting, but perverse, point of view;
iii) this is true, but quite unimportant;
iv) I always said so.
-- J.B.S. Haldane, Journal of Genetics #58, 1963, p.464


This is a quote from the first website I ever did, in 1998, when I was taking a Perl class. I put up the original site on the old host of thebroadroom.net; now I can't find it (it was small, a few HTML pages and a script). Okay I could find it, were I willing to dig out the Win95 machine. The jokes page survived, albeit without its smiley-face background (I really can't find that).

I've often thought of that snippet o' wisdom, over the past nine years. If I give it any serious thought, it perfectly sums my interest in the Web to begin with. Perhaps I've always seen it as an escape from mediocrity, much as I saw programming as a similar escape. The day the Internet becomes just another channel for hot air, is the day I lose my interest in it.

lipstick page cgi board

It's odd but it's only now I consciously realize what attracted me to The Lipstick Page ("Josephine" is me in the above screenshot; I invented a screen name based on my Java professor's name). At the time, there was Beauty Buzz, and it seemed to me there were other beauty messageboards about, such as iCompact (which I stupidly thought was part of ivillage). Later on, there were Makeupalley and Faceonline.

Why the Lipstick Page then? Part of it was the script. Besides LP, only Makeupalley hosted their own script. Everyone else used remotely-hosted scripts. (iCompact hosts their own, and possibly always did; again I was too dumb to investigate them back then.) Makeupalley surpassed LP in developing an image library and a product reviews script; hence, when thebroadroom took over LP in early 2004, those were the first two features I added.

I suppose my point is that it's easy to look at the surface of something, and less easy to comprehend the engineering behind it. The earlier Internet was dominated by technical people, for obvious reasons. The "new" Net is equally as dominated, but far less obviously so.

Ever wonder where this came from?



A labels list is not a standard feature of ftp blogger.com accounts. It comes with paid blogging, or Blogspot blogs, but the former involves file size limits and expenses, while the latter means your content is owned by Blogger, and whatever extra features you might want are going to cost you.

It's a useful feature; I made it.

Of course if you're going to make it, you should make it better, so I added the feature of indexing some of the label pages. Rather than having to load the label page and then go through it, the user can peruse a list of links:

beauty notebook
beauty notes

In the first example, we present a nice listing of all the Beauty Notebooks. In the second, you're talking about a ginormous label page that would be time-consuming to load and sift through; moreover, the label pages are limited as to how many posts are printed on them, where the script-based listing has no limit.

These are some small examples of the technology, and the ideology, behind the site.

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November 10, 2007 7:41 PM, Blogger Dain said...

: ) Colleen does amazing and meticulous work on this site.

 
November 10, 2007 8:43 PM, Blogger Colleen Shirazi said...

Thanks...I'm, ah, looking for a job. lol Thought it couldn't hurt to summarize some of the technical aspects.

But it's interesting in its own right. I went back and looked at old iCompact, they still host some of their stuff from way back. They were using a CGI script (likely Perl) before they switched to PHP. It's identical to the development of LP. I can't believe I used to think they were part of ivillage. That takes the morons award for the past few years.

 
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Eye makeup for x eyes
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Friday, November 09, 2007 7:36 PM (Eastern)

Eye makeup for brown eyes...eye makeup for hazel eyes...eye makeup for green eyes...eye makeup for blue eyes. This comes up a lot, on various boards.

One of my stock pieces of advice is to find an actress or model with your eye color, and something close to your overall coloring (it doesn't have to be exact; it can be as simple as "coolish" or "warmish," "fair" or "deep"), and observe what she's doing with her eyes. It's much easier to do this now than before, with Google Image Search. Television serials work well too, since you get to see the same character over and over again (hopefully with close-ups).

Here are a few examples:

salma hayek eyes

Salma Hayek demos one of the many looks brown eyes can wear, a version of Dain's silvered beige concept, with matte black lashes and defined brows.

salma hayek dogma

Okay you can't see much eye makeup here; this is a purely gratuitous Salma Hayek/Dogma pic, but I highly recommend the movie, and was thrilled to see someone had uploaded the entire thing to Youtube (the above shot is from my favorite scene).

rachel weisz

My girl Rachel Weisz shows a look for hazel eyes. I love this picture anyway, for its generally un-Photoshopped appearance; you see flaws, sure, but tiny flaws only throw big virtues into high relief.

Observe a slight reddish/orange tone to the shadow, which enhances the olive green in many hazel eyes. (Use lavender to "pop" gold.)

And speaking of green...

lisa edelstein

It was somehow much easier to find pics of Lisa Edelstein wearing classic purples, than the deep apricots she often uses on House. This is the closest I could find:

lisa edelstein

...but the rendition on House is usually quite a bit heavier and more dimensional.

joely richardson

Blue eyes...many role models here...Brooke Shields, Jasmine Bleeth, Joely Richardson (above, with Portia de Rossi). On Nip/Tuck, Richardson usually sports taupe shadows, or versions of cool purples. Warm-toned blue-eyed ladies can go for bronze, copper, peach, even orange.

images courtesy www.taillightsfade.com, redrob2.co.uk, www.scifidesktop.org.uk, www.ilxor.com, www.postimees.ee, lesbicanarias.es

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November 10, 2007 11:01 PM, Blogger Anne said...

A beautiful product that I love on green and/or brown eyes:

Laura Mercier Titanium Metallic Creme Eye Colour

 
November 12, 2007 11:47 PM, Blogger Colleen Shirazi said...

Hey, thanks for the tip! :)

 
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Beauty & Fashion Notes: The Buyer's Guide to Independent Art and Design
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, 1:49 PM (Eastern)

Trunkt: The Buyer's Guide to Independent Art and Design

I stumbled across this site; it's a blend of indie and Etsy (in fact some of the shops linked to are on Etsy).

Etsy, btw, has become a respectable site, after a rather slow beginning. Check out their Chiyogami page; it alone would be worthy of a nicely-illustrated blog post.

In regards to Trunkt, each category has a sample photo of what's being made, so the sections are a lot bigger than they would appear to be. Click on the sample and you are directed to a page of more samples and a bio of the company. Click on the samples here and you go to the company's website, where you may browse further.

I could use something like this:

dennya dress
image courtesy Dennya Company of Baltimore


And this:

treehouse 28 skirt
image courtesy treehouse 28 of California


$70, custom made, comes in a multitude of colors in hemp or cotton lycra, reversible (ruffles in front or ruffles behind; the latter looks sassier imo).

How about a purse?

tortilla girl purse
image courtesy Tortilla Girl of Lyon, France


They've got ton loads of other stuff on there, such as bath and body products, jewelry, items for your home, ton loads more bags, just a whole lot of interesting things.

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Fashion Notes: The Sartorialist
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, 1:32 AM (Eastern)

The Sartorialist

And a nice video clip:

Fashion Forward: The Sartorialist

This is one of my favorite fashion-related blogs (besides this one, of course :) ), if only for its interestingly democratic feel. What it must be like, to walk down the street in New York City, and have Scott Schuman ask you if you'd mind a quick photo. That must mean you've made it...at least, ah, sartorially.

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Here's something I'd like to try before I die...
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Thursday, November 08, 2007 3:52 AM (Eastern)

cole haan nike air shoe

"Fine calfskin pump with beautifully concealed NIKE AIR cushioning." By Cole Haan, in three heel heights.

Nike Air pumps? :D

Now if only Dr. Martens made something that looks a bit like this.

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Culture Notes: The Game of Life
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Wednesday, November 07, 2007 3:50 PM (Eastern)








This is a pleasant-enough time-waster. The grid is clickable.

I'm actually wondering a few things...if Blogger is really fixed, and how badly off Sun is.

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Nars Holiday 2007: Siren Song
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, 2:24 PM (Eastern)

nars holiday 2007
nars holiday 2007

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November 7, 2007 3:14 PM, Blogger Dain said...

Hm, I think NARS collections of late have been rather lackluster. Though... I don't really mind, how cares about color stories so long as they have good products?

 
November 7, 2007 5:13 PM, Blogger Dain said...

I have been suffering from the oddest spelling mistakes today. Maybe I woke on the dyslexic side of the bed today. "... WHO cares about color stories..."

 
November 7, 2007 11:49 PM, Blogger Colleen Shirazi said...

Those double-ended doodads look kind of cool.

 
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Beauty and Fashion Notes: this 'n' that
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Tuesday, November 06, 2007 1:51 AM (Eastern)

I was reading through Dain's Beauty Notes: Color Theory (part 1) and realizing how different we are. I don't mean deeply different, more like superficially so.

It's a good thing. I dislike sites where everyone has to agree with everything all the time. I'm American; I treasure the concept of there not being any one righteous path. To me it's dull and stifling, and ultimately stagnant.

Yet I can acknowledge that finding one's "look" is important, and confusing. It's a jungle, and sometimes it's good to have a guide.

I've just never done anything that way...hmmm...okay, I can agree with her first point. Skincare first. Dain was the first to emphasize this back in the misty days of twentieth-century beauty boards, while everyone else was going ga-ga over color cosmetics.

After that, for me...um...
  1. Skincare first. I tend to view it more as an internal thing, likely because of my acne. Nothing topical ever worked, but changing my diet, birth control pill, vitamins...these cleared my skin.

    The one conventional skincare product I advocate is the Dr. Hauschka Cleansing Cream. The stuff is killer, from its finely smashed whole almonds, to its gently oily film (keeps skin from producing too much oil), to its touch of alcohol, to whatever herbs it's got going on there. I am very skeptical about skincare claims (again, acne sufferer...have heard tons of promises of miracles), but this delivers as an exfoliant and overall skin refiner.

  2. Hair. Finding the right hair style and color is key. Why do you think nuns cover their hair? Hair is attractive, sexy; it's your "crowning glory." The color has to be right; the style has to fit. Not that you have to go to a salon (I don't); go if you want. Finding your hair groove is slightly more important imo than building a wardrobe...not that you shouldn't build your wardrobe...but the best clothes in the world, paired with a lousy hairdo...I'd rather see great hair and lousy clothes.

  3. Perfume. I wrestled with this for more than a year before buying a full bottle of anything, and finally decided on Montale as my house. How you smell is as important as how you look. I've never been a great collector of scents...even now, when there are so many to choose from, I'd rather own two or three bottles at a time and work through them.

  4. Lipstick. People look at your lips. A pretty color lifts your mood, brightens your face, makes the world go round... I don't collect these either, I had too many of them go bad in my experimental days. It takes half an hour to buy a lipstick and a year to use one up...so I prefer something like two or three lipsticks at a time.

  5. Overall health. I don't diet or exercise much either, but I have found it easier to stay relatively slim, than to find clothes that look good on you if you don't. I'm very sincere in this; to me there is a strong economical factor. If you put on weight, you can't wear regular clothes, you are constantly shopping for clothes that don't make you look fat. And there's a tendency to put on even more weight, meaning you have to buy even more clothes because your old ones don't fit. I've been through all that. It's expensive and annoying.

    As far as the unrealistic anorexic body image, I rejected that too, actually for much of the same reasons...it's high maintenance and unhealthy.

These are the basic things...if your skin is at its best, your hairdo works, you smell good, have a nice lipstick on, and have a reasonably regular body weight--not too thin, not too fat--the rest is a lot less important. Or, if you're looking at it my way, you can get away with a great deal more cheapness and laziness.

The lipstick is the one item on my list that isn't a true foundation; it's not even a face foundation item like Dain's One True Blush. It's just a random item, pure luxury (since you could as easily go for an untinted lip balm, as far as function).

I know these things seem screamingly obvious, but we are living in a capitalist society. Fixing your foundation, instead of constantly buying patches for it, is, well, cheaper in the long run (although it can be more expensive up front).

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7 comment(s)  
 
November 6, 2007 1:58 AM, Blogger Dain said...

o lord! I forgot perfume!

 
November 6, 2007 2:10 AM, Blogger Colleen Shirazi said...

We're still living in Blogger Hell? I went to their help section, I saw three posts bitching on their ftp service. The problem is they don't put anything on their blogger status page, you are to use voodoo to figure it out.

Well, my guidelines are laziness and tightwadded-ness. How little can I do and still look as if I made the effort?

The problem with perfume is finding an inexpensive one that works as well as a spendy one...I gave up on that a long time ago. What attracted me to the Montales, besides they smell good, was the sheer lasting power, the idea of not having to touch them up.

It's what I didn't like about Diptyque...nice scents that don't last. You'd tear through the bottle.

I left jewelry off my list, it's not crucial, yet it adds a lot.

 
November 6, 2007 2:29 AM, Blogger Dain said...

Yup. It's as sluggish as anything. I've been thinking of writing a post on "things you don't need to spend a lot of money on", but I'll agree that unless you wear, say, oils from a headshop (I know a girl who wears jasmine perfume oil only, it's really lovely on her...), it's a lost cause with scents.

Your Montales makes me as happy as if I owned them myself. Lol. It's queer, I haven't even smelled them.

 
November 6, 2007 2:31 AM, Blogger Dain said...

Looks like we're back.

 
November 6, 2007 2:34 AM, Blogger Colleen Shirazi said...

I've only just smelled them? I got Annick Goutal's Passion EDP too, a small bottle of it. That's it for now. I wanted to see how long the Montale's keep.

 
November 6, 2007 2:37 AM, Blogger Dain said...

Bah, premature. Oy, but I agree, we're all about difference of opinion on LP. Debate is important, it means that people have something to say.

But I dunno, that, say, our current administration follows your creed of Americana.

 
November 9, 2007 12:35 PM, Blogger Colleen Shirazi said...

Our current administration didn't come from the moon. The problem is not the current administration, the problem is having alternatives to it, which is the part people outside the U.S. don't seem to grasp (as well they shouldn't; they don't live here).

I remember post-Roosevelt, pre-Reagan America in every detail...it's how I grew up. It's hard for me to imagine not having that experience. Once you've seen the potential, you don't let go of it. Or, I dunno, you don't let go of it easily.

 
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Montale Aoud Blossom review
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Monday, November 05, 2007 3:53 PM (Eastern)


You want to know what turned me on to Montale in the first place?

{Perfume Q & A} with Raffy Dolbakian of Parfums Raffy: Tastes of Summer - 2007 Bestseller Summery Fragrances

When I read this, I decided to try Aoud Roses Petals, Jasmin Full and Crystal Flowers. Which led me to try a lot of other Montale's.

I ended up buying Aoud Blossom and Boisé Vanillé (if you want a bit of pleasant irony, I bought them from Parfums Raffy).

It's been harder for me to review Aoud Blossom than the other Montale scents, which contain more familiar notes like saffron, the Montale signature rose, dry vanilla, et cetera. Aoud Blossom is more like a perfect blend of flowers...almost too perfect, since picking out any individual flower is harder than in, say, Crystal Flowers (an obvious heart of deep rose and lily-of-the-valley), or Jasmin Full (layers of warm mellow star jasmine).

Aoud Blossom is more akin to my nose to Creed's Fleurissimo, in being greater than the sum of its parts. I get violets...I'm sure of that, strong violets. Jasmine...something powdery (although I wouldn't describe Aoud Blossom as "a powdery scent," a bit of powder emerges after you've had it on for a few hours). Rose? It's not in the forefront, the way it is in Fleurissimo.

I don't want to overly compare Aoud Blossom to Fleurissimo, to me they smell nothing alike, the reason I brought it up was to suggest a virtually all-floral blend that produces its own "color."

Aoud Blossom isn't oud-y, much. I'm not sure I'd have pegged it as an oud scent at all. It's closer to all flowers, floating into your nose, but at the same time it's strong (yay!) in the Montale style.

My kids were nuts about this one, and I have used them as my chief perfume critics all along. Comments such as, "You smell weird, Mom" are very important to me. It's a reason I chose Aoud Blossom over White Aoud (which is a fabulous perfume, but my skin picked up too much lemony-sourness in it). Aoud Roses Petals fared better, with a positive vote from my daughter (it's still on the wish list), while Jasmin Full got enthusiastic yes votes from daughter and son (apparently they picked up its "grape soda note" lol)...but I will emphasize, they're not perfume newbs. Scents they like include Annick Goutal Eau d'Hadrien, Passion and Rose Absolue, Etro Heliotrope, Dior Addict, Armani Code...while they disliked Annick Goutal Mandragore, Diptyque Philosykos, and felt eh about scents I would have been more positive about.

So...trying this is a must for floral perfume fanatics. If you're not into florals, I'm not sure this would "convert" you; it doesn't exactly go beyond the realm of a conventional floral scent, it's just better than most of them...stronger, more complex, longer lasting, more "real" smelling (florals without a chemical edge). If you're more of a rose person, I'd point you toward Aoud Roses Petals (or Annick Goutal Rose Absolue for that matter). I've been into mixed floral scents for a long time; my signature scents of yore were invariably mixed florals (Sung by Alfred Sung, Giò by Giorgio Armani, Givenchy's Organza) as well as various scents I've liked (Armani Code, GF Ferré Lei).

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We've pimped our MySpace profile.
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Sunday, November 04, 2007 7:16 PM (Eastern)

The Lipstick Page Forums on MySpace

Once in a while you've got to pimp your profile. Now we have a handy slide show highlighting features of the site:

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November 5, 2007 5:10 PM, Blogger Dain said...

99 years old! LOL!

 
November 5, 2007 10:38 PM, Blogger Colleen Shirazi said...

Aw man, this thing ate my comment!

 
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Makeover program where you can try on hair styles, hair colors, and makeup
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Saturday, November 03, 2007 2:00 AM (Eastern)

makeover program demo

Third from left: holy smokes, Monica Lewinsky, is that you? lol

I got this link from another board, and it's actually a good program. You have to register, and it's a pain to do so (free, but a lot of screens), then you need to figure out how to use the durn thing.

Once you've got it going though, it's a peach. The selection of hairdos and colors is limited; yet, if you're at a starting point in your life, or looking for a change, you could do a lot worse. There's a long curly 'do, a shorter Paris Hilton bob 'do, Jennifer Anniston's 'do...you can play with these basic shapes, in blonde, brown, a darkish color (not exactly black) and a couple of odd-looking ashes. You may also don colored contacts.

The makeup is a bit trickier; in the first pic, I didn't realize you could configure each component by grabbing the handles around, say, the image of your eye, and dragging them into place. The default eye shapes were entirely "off" on me but once configured, really not bad.

Then, you can adjust the opacity of the makeup as well as that of the contact lenses, and configure the eyeliner (top and bottom, top only, bottom only, and a rather crude top-and-outer-third-of-bottom, plus the thickness of the liner).

After that of course it became academic...but let me tell ya, I actually owned the lipstick in the first pic. And it does look like that on me. Since you can adjust the opacity as well as pretty much the exact placement, it's not that far off from grabbing the makeup and putting it on.

Yeah, you're supposed to upload a pic of yourself with your hair pulled back, but I didn't have one handy (as long as you don't have bangs in your pic, I think it works well enough).

Beauty Riot Instant Makeover

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Update on Giovanni Cosmetics Tea Tree Triple Treat shampoo
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Friday, November 02, 2007 7:06 PM (Eastern)

I started using this back in July, because I had a slight, yet persistent, itchiness on top of my head. It was either tea tree oil shampoo or Nizoral; they both are purported to work on the same principle, that scalp itch can be caused by a fungus that normally lives on the scalp. Too much of this fungus = itchiness. Hence the idea of using tea tree oil or Nizoral to kill the excess fungus.

I didn't particularly want to try Nizoral. I'm not knocking it, but it is expensive, and I've gravitated toward more natural beauty products over the years, having found them more effective over the long run.

The Giovanni shampoo didn't work at first, not even for the first couple of weeks. I wasn't expecting that and pretty much gave up on it working. I'd already bought the three-pack at Costco:



It's a decent shampoo in its own right, I'd already paid for it, what the heck... I continued using it.

That's when it started to work. It took about a month to show results, but it did actually get rid of the itch. That's no small potatoes; I'd had that slight itch for a long time. It seems to me every winter my scalp would act up. (And I have noticed that anti-itch shampoo ads tend to turn up every winter as well, like the Neutrogena one.)

I suppose I could have gone straight to Nizoral or other more conventional anti-itch shampoos, but it doesn't bother me to integrate a tea tree oil shampoo into my routine. The price is very reasonable if you can find the three-pack at Costco, otherwise I would recommend looking online.

One of the selling points of Nizoral is that you need not use it for every shampoo. I have gotten the best results using tea tree oil shampoo each time, but I've also played around alternating it with other shampoos. It's possible to not use it for a few days--your scalp does not immediately become itchy again. I'm keeping an eye on it though, to see if longer-term use means having to use it less frequently.

Since trying this, I've also seen recommendations for a Paul Mitchell tea tree oil shampoo and conditioner on other boards, so that might be another option.

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New feature on our front page
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, 6:58 PM (Eastern)

If you haven't been entering the site through our front page, I highly recommend it. Not only do you get all of the site features syndicated at a glance, you may now also search all of the features at once using our new Google Custom Search engine.

I put up the overlay one, which doesn't seem particularly amenable to configuration (it's a new feature), but you do get a cool overlay for the initial search results.

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Culture Notes: California music part 4 (Southern)
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, 2:32 PM (Eastern)

There are far too many stellar songs from Southern California to fit into a single post, hence I've selected one from each decade, beginning with the 1960's.


Chantays - Pipeline

This song has been on my mind for many years. I heard it growing up in Virginia, where its exotic air hinted at a lifestyle very different from everything I'd already seen.

I was tempted to put Dick Dale and his Del-Tones doing "Misirlou" here, though Dale hails from Massachusetts (and is half Lebanese, which explains the embellished style of guitar-playing), but "Pipeline" better captures the Southern California mystique. Who'd have guessed it was a bunch of kids making this music? Ah, the miracle of Youtube.


Eagles-Hotel California

I was in grade school when this came out; it immediately became the standard for all aspiring garage bands of the time.

Editor's note: it's a terrific song, but another reason for its popularity is its length. There used to be people called DJ's who used to compose playlists, and, quite frequently, the DJ's would favor longer songs, since these enabled the DJ's to take bathroom breaks and the like.


The Go Go's - Our Lips Are Sealed

Love this song...it was written by Jane Wiedlin (of the Go-Go's) and Terry Hall (of The Specials and Fun Boy Three). The Go-Go's version is superior to that of Fun Boy Three imo, for its genuine frothiness (as the lyrics suggest it should be).


californication

Not only one of my favorite Red Hot Chili Peppers songs, but also one of my all-time favorite videos. Who wouldn't want to drive like that on the bridge...


Pump it Mix

And finally, a group which I feel has always been somewhat underrated, The Black Eyed Peas. Here a fan has spliced some live footage in with what is another all-time favorite video of mine. (Looks like we'll get some "Misirlou" after all.)

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November 2, 2007 2:51 PM, Blogger Dain said...

Hehe... I used to listen to RHCP/Billie Holiday in high school... perhaps an odd pairing. Otherside was my favorite song, but I now think Parallel Universe is better.

 
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Fashion Notes: Dain's hyperconsumerism commentary
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Thursday, November 01, 2007 11:52 PM (Eastern)

I quite agree with the minimalist concept, of narrowing down your wardrobe...much the way we have been narrowing down beauty routines, which was Dain's concept to begin with. I'd say I've been far less organized about the fashion aspect of my own life; I've seen it more as a matter of what you do. From what you do, you tailor your wardrobe around that.

Back when I worked in offices, I had ton loads of office clothes. It didn't bother me. You always need something to wear to the office. At one point I had enough office clothes and I stopped buying them. I still have these clothes...office attire doesn't actually change much from year to year, or even decade to decade, as long as what you have fit well in the first place.

I mean I'll go to a fashion forum and people there will spend their time dissing, say, stockings. Apparently it's the faux pas of the millennium to wear stockings (this may be a West Coast thing) but I don't care. My legs look good in stockings...stockings are conservative...I've pretty much figured out how to keep the darn things from running...et cetera. No need to change the stockings routine. A couple of years from now, women will be wearing stockings as if nothing had ever happened anyway.

Shoes...I will actually need some shoes, some time. My office shoes are on their (bad pun warning) last legs. They still look nice, but they're getting a tad worn-looking. I hate shopping for shoes (I hate shopping anyway) and I don't wear heels. I need one pair of good-looking office shoes with a low heel.

So that's it for office wear, for me...I would probably go back and see what still fits, and fill in the blanks with something along the lines of machine washable dresses. Most of my old office clothes are dryclean only; it costs a fortune and uses chemicals.

Casual clothes...I've had to wear these for the past eight years or so. I have a lot of them. It's more along the lines of khaki or olive green pants, fitted tee shirts...stuff that isn't going to go out of style. If I had bought a lot of low-rise pants with flared bottoms, I'd be screwed, but again I agree with Dain. A moderately low rise and bootcut sort of bottom always work. You can always throw in something stovepipe-y if you've got the legs for it (I don't so that's outta there).

Fitted tee shirts...sort of happy with the Mossimo ones. If Banana Republic still made the kind of tee shirts they used to, I'd buy those, but they don't. I still have one, here it is in 2004, back when I still wore jeans:

banana republic tee shirt

The shirt was already a few years old if I recall correctly, and it's only now starting to show signs of wear. I've worn and washed it a bazillion times.

I started making jewelry at one point, it's hard...there was a burst of interest in it (no doubt coinciding with a burst of layoffs), but I've found the newer suppliers tend to sell materials only at a certain level. If you want better supplies, you have to go through refineries, which means going through the Patriot Act, which is annoying. I suspect the suppliers who stay in the game will eventually sell a higher level of supplies, if only because the people who stay in the jewelry-making business will want to buy them, but that will probably be a few years from now.

That's already covered the main aspects of my life. I can't really dress up doing the mom thing, it wouldn't make sense in any sense, but I've never espoused dressing badly as a mom. That wouldn't make sense to me either.

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November 2, 2007 2:47 PM, Blogger Dain said...

I just don't want to be bothered any more. I'm so sick of the current attitude towards fashion and beauty: the halfwit celebrities, the ecstatic editorialists, the glut of useless products. No one's forcing me to take part, of course, and I'm sure it'll pass, but I am just disgusted.

 
November 3, 2007 1:36 AM, Blogger Colleen Shirazi said...

Well, some things have changed...we got rid of our Fairness Doctrine. We deregulated the number of advertising minutes per hour on tv. I think it was 13 minutes per hour before, now there is no limit.

The regulations themselves may have been relatively new, but the media have become more omnipresent. i.e., if you turn on a tv, you are inundated with advertising, 24/7. If you turn on a radio, it's less jammed with ads, but then the content is controlled by a single corporation; the content itself is a sort of subliminal ad.

The Net is still there...I hate to be pessimistic about it. I keep thinking it's inevitable the Net will go the way of all other media preceding it. But is it inevitable? You still need geeks to run things. Geeks have never been all about the money (they can't be, since a lot of what they do doesn't pay relative to the time involved).

I'm not sure if it's harder to watch this scene if you remember pre-Reagan America too well. Maybe it's easier, since you then feel that things can change, that this is all a sort of phase.

 
November 3, 2007 1:37 AM, Blogger Colleen Shirazi said...

In any case, I've always thought your minimalist philosophy was a good one.

 
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