June 29, 2008 12:08 AM,  Dain said...

I want to try those Avalon Organics now. I really need to get myself to a Whole Foods soon, and root around the products section.

June 29, 2008 2:20 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

There's a lot of bath & body at health food stores...and some of it is really good. Some of it is bad--Jason shampoos are terrible, imo, and Kiss My Face is only eh.

Avalon, Alba Hawaiian, Giovanni, Nature's Gate Organics...all good. There's one I always look at called Desert Essence. It costs a bit more but it smells stupendous.

I rotate shampoos, since I wash my hair every day. Otherwise there's no way to prevent buildup. I like to have three shampoos in the shower at a given time, and two conditioners. :D

June 22, 2008 8:38 PM,  Dain said...

That's sweet. I haven't really started work on it yet, though. Shhhh. The blogging gets in the way, so I guess I'll just have to stop once we do CoC.

That video's pretty awesome. Iran seems sad, though.

May 27, 2008 4:06 AM,  Dain said...

I like what you say about "he most expensive lipstick is typically the one which you don't use up".That's very true. Even if a lippie is $6, if you don't touch it, it's wasted money, and even if you spend $22, it's worth it if you get use out of it, even if you use it for special occasions.

In my experience, most "dry-clean only" can be washed by hand. In fact, that's really what wears down clothing, machine-washing, and the tag's there to discourage machine-washing more than anything else. I've found a good compromise is to use a cold cycle and air-dry as much as I can.

May 27, 2008 4:28 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Yeah...one of the less-talked-about budgeting tactics, "cost per wear." I read about it when I was a kid, in a book called Cheap Chic. (There was a Cheap Chic II at one point, I think, which I haven't read, but the original has been out of print for a long time.)

There they actually calculated the cost per wear of two dresses; one was $20, the other $80, but the $80 one got worn a whole lot more, and ended up "cheaper." (In those days, an extravagant price for a dress.)

There is a kind of rayon fabric which shrinks, when washed in water rather than drycleaned. It's happened to me a few times...it's matte in texture. For whatever nutty reason, smooth rayon doesn't seem to shrink nearly as much.

Hence, the precaution could be to buy clothes made from this rayon, in one size up, on the notion it's gonna shrink one size anyway. :D

I do mine in the washing machine, it's too many to hand wash. At the end of the week I have a full size load...cold water, Woolite, delicate cycle.

May 27, 2008 11:21 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

I'm still dithering about the Foot Petals. You can't find the dimensions for them...they sell something called Haute Heelz, which look more practical than Heavenly Heelz, for some of my shoes--if the Haute Heelz are as big as they look. You could cut them in half and stick them into the backs of the shoes.

Thinking of trying several kinds out...the price per pair is all the same.

I remember now, it was Insolia that people said worked better for high heels, not Foot Petals. Insolia is a gel insole supposedly engineered to transfer more weight from the ball of the foot to the heel--where Foot Petals are basically just pads, from what I can tell.

May 24, 2008 1:31 PM,  Dain said...

That's a very sensible plan. I take a very long time to make any expensive purchases myself, and you can get a cheap pair for the mean time. I've had good luck with Banana Republic. They're nicely styled and sturdily made for the price. I have a pair of espadrilles that I got for $68 that are still going very strong, and I've worn them everywhere.

Err... or if I misunderstood you, perhaps you got some shoes already.

I've been curious about Foot Petals too. If you get them, please let us know how they work out. I have a couple pairs of shoes that might need them.

Yeah, I definitely agree, you probably don't need both exfoliators. The appeal of the Dr. Hauschka is that it exfoliates without abrading, but if you don't mind rubbing away at your skin, then it doesn't really matter, right? I think it's a good plan. And you could also always move the cleansing milk into a plastic bottle. I wonder how you'd feel about the Eve Lom balm cleanser phenomenon (obviously, there are cheaper options): just one product to cleanse, exfoliate, and moisturize?

May 24, 2008 4:11 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Hehe, this gets more interesting...I did some calling around about Foot Petals. One place in Berkeley told me they don't recommend back-of-the-heel pads...what they do, is give you a pad to put in the toe of your shoe. The idea is if the heel is loose, it's because the shoe is big, and the toe-pad should push your foot back far enough to make the heel fit.

So, I'm going to check that out today. Yup, I got some shoes. They are the ones in the pic, I just photoshopped some commercial shoe images together.

I've seen the ball-of-foot 'Petals around a lot, wondering how good they are for high heels. The shoes I got don't need padding there...they had some nice-looking flats, but I turned them down for that reason. Now I'm wondering how good the 'Petals technology is...some people swear by them, as a means of turning a cheap shoe into an expensive one. lol

That Salux cloth is interesting, from an engineering point of view. You don't feel as if you're scrubbing...and you're not scrubbing...yet, it lifts off what feels like years' worth of dead skin. It's eerie. I'm not sure I need a cleanser at all...thinking of trying the cloth with a mild body wash, like the Jason one.

May 25, 2008 5:45 PM,  Joy Rothke said...

I'm staying loyal to Dr. H! I think the cleansing cream does more than exfoliate, and is exceptionally good at gently drawing gunk out of one's pores. I'm also having good luck with rhassoul clay soap, which I'll be writing about. [Colleen: I can send you a sample.]

Some of the ingredients in Eve Lom cleanser:

paraffinum liquidum (mineral oil), cetearyl alcohol, peg-30 lanolin, bis-diglyceryl polyacyladipate-2, aluminum stearate, theobroma cacao (cocoa butter), peg-75 lanolin, chamomilla recutita (chamomile oil), eugenia caryophyllus (clove oil), eucalyptus globulus (eucalyptus oil), humulus lupulus (hops oil), phenoxyethanol, methylparaben, butylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, isobutylparaben, p-chloro-m-cresol, eugenol, isoeugenol

are almost as appalling as its price [GBP 48 for 100 ml]. I wouldn't touch this stuff with a 10-foot pole.

May 26, 2008 3:42 AM,  Dain said...

I don't mean Eve Lom exactly, I just thought Colleen may like the idea because it's got a similar feel to the cleansing milk and may work well in conjunction with her Salux cloth. I was really thinking of the LUSH Ultrabland, which I think is a great product, except for the dreaded peanut oil that clogs my pores.

May 26, 2008 3:57 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Dain: Right now I'm using soap with the Salux cloth. I got some Canus goat milk soap on sale, so I've been using that. (It smells really good btw, it's the marigold extract one.)

After I do that, I use the Cleansing Cream...mostly because I feel I should use it up, and also because it is handily moisturizing. That's why I was thinking the Cleansing Milk would do just as well, but I haven't thought of using it with the cloth, which actually makes more sense.

Joy: Thanks for the offer. Not sure what I'm going to do yet... I'll look forward to your writing about rhassoul clay soap (which admittedly I've never heard of). It sounds Arabic?

I've found the Hauschka Cleansing Milk good...I use it at night, and it seems to last well. I might just port some to a plastic bottle and see how that flies.

Their lipstick is good too, it is up there with Chanel.

April 27, 2008 12:28 AM,  EZE said...

The best part of the Salux cloths is the packaging. It's just the right mix of cheese and functionality.

April 27, 2008 1:20 AM,  Dain said...

I got a lot of citrus from L'Air du Desert Marocain, a sandy fizz over dry spices and curls of cedar. It was definitely nice, but not my taste. Have you tried layering it over one of your Montales? I liked it over Black Aoud.

April 30, 2008 12:52 AM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

I wasn't overly wowed by the packaging :) There were several Chinese knock-offs on the shelf, but I wanted to try the patented Japanese version. The pic is no exaggeration...the thing is like a small bath towel.

I got this at my local "Japanese dollar shop"...it's sort of a combination of a regular Japanese odds 'n' ends shop...they've got dishes and novelties...and a dollar shop, where they have 99 cent items. They also have a section for Japanese shampoo, facial cleansers and the like. It's pretty neat.

I get next to no citrus out of ...Marocain? On me it's spicy, dry, hot and calming. What's great is that it's not sweet. I'm not into spicy perfumes, but the dryness here works. I'll have to give it a go over a Montale.

March 2, 2008 5:11 PM,  Dain said...

I found the Cleansing Milk lasted for a surprisingly long time. I used it sporadically, so I can't be accurate, but three months is probably a conservative estimate, I'd guess a bottle'd last twice as much.

February 5, 2008 4:51 PM,  Dain said...

Interesting. The peanut oil in this product clogs my pores. Otherwise, I like it. I'll agree that you don't really need moisturizer afterwards. The spritz of a toner will do. In fact, that's how you are supposed to do it at night, according to the Dr. Hauschka regime, so that skin can "breathe". That might be why the cleansers have such a heaviness to them.

February 6, 2008 12:27 AM,  Dain said...

Hey Colleen, you know that hoop design you've been working with lately? Have you considered looping it back down before you wrap it and making a small hoop that descends into the center? That way, you can attach a stone that floats in the middle of the large hoop, and whatever you like on the ring itself. It might be a way to tinker around with color combinations and not worry about the stones themselves knocking into each other.

February 7, 2008 1:49 AM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

The funny part is, it doesn't leave my face greasy. When I'm using it, it feels like hand cream--after rinsing and drying, it doesn't feel different from my regular moisturizer. Possibly it's better for oily skin than for dry.

I haven't bothered with the toner yet. I've used the cleansing milk for three nights now--I'm using it only at night, I use the cleansing cream in the AM. My skin does feel a bit softer and smoother.

Ah, the quest for the handmade wire hoop. The thing is you can buy readymade components, but they'll look readymade, in the sense of being something anyone can buy. I'm not knocking it...I've been pondering getting some myself, like a round hammered silver link with tiny holes in it.

The handmade ones are a bit tricky...you have to get it so it doesn't look bulky, since you have to get the thing to stay together using only wire.

February 7, 2008 12:05 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Doh?

Recently I've been doing the double-looped wrap I saw on the SkyDreams Etsy site...it really does work better. The old top wrap had only one loop, which you used to wrap the other end of the wire. I was having a problem with the end of the wire popping out of the wrap if you pulled it. If you put a loop at the top of the end, it really can't pop out.

What I'd need to do is bring the wrap itself down and terminate it in another loop. The hoop would have to be bigger of course but there's no reason it wouldn't work.

February 7, 2008 7:16 PM,  Dain said...

Yeah, I figured that might be it. Dr. Hauschka, try as I might, never quite suited me. And I first scorned Jurlique as a Dr. Hauschka copycat, but it suits my skin far better.

The toner is great--it's the only toner I'd actually recommend. It's somehow "more than toner". There's alcohol in it, plant alcohol, but IIRC is it's ethyl not isopropryl, as it is for so many products. There's just lovely botanicals floating around, and it smells wonderful, and like nothing else. (I'm talking about the Facial Toner, am allergic to Clarifying).

February 7, 2008 7:47 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

It's weird eh? It seems to me the greatest fans of Hauschka are in fact those with oily skin and/or acne.

October 25, 2007 3:35 PM,  Dain said...

Those Montales sound amazing... I hate weak, derivative perfumes!

October 25, 2007 1:17 PM,  Chez Moi said...

Very, very pretty!

ABBA!!!
Oh man was that a blast from the past!!! My sister and I used to dance around in our living room playing Abba on old 45's!!! My mom ADORED them!

October 25, 2007 1:25 PM,  Dain said...

One of my closest friends is a huge fan of "Dancing Queen". It's kind of funny, because he's a big, macho, self-important man. A softie at heart. ; )

October 28, 2007 1:57 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen dee dee... Hard to beat that tune.

October 23, 2007 4:50 PM,  Dain said...

You can make your own cleansing cream, the Dr. Hauschka is pricey given how quickly you go through a tube. Raw almonds and grapeseed oil are the basic ingredients, but you can add your own essential oils, honey, oatmeal, what have you.

October 23, 2007 5:22 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Eh...I went through the sample tube quickly, but I've found you can stretch it out if you like. The first week or so, it's well to use it every time, but once your skin is up to speed, you can cut back on it. You can also apply it with one hand (this requires less cleanser).

September 24, 2007 1:05 PM,  Dain said...

I'm jealous. I really wanted to be able to use Dr. Hauschka cleansing cream, but can't... I really liked the premise, a paste that you "press" into a creamy emulsion that lifts away all that is bad without disturbing what is good, and it works, but... ach, allergies.

I agree 100% about skincare. Things that work miracles at first never keep up to the promise.

September 20, 2007 11:42 AM,  Dain said...

I find this takes practice to use correctly. It's best used on damp, softened skin, so after a shower is best. The press-and-roll method emulsifies the almond meal on your skin, and all that loosened up skin just lifts off. This is the gentlest, most effective exfoliating method, because it doesn't peel away anything that isn't ready to go yet. The only problem with it is that it's expensive, but it's easy to make at home.

I am sooo allergic to this stuff though.

September 3, 2007 3:00 AM,  Dain said...

Wow, you have so much sunlight, even in northern CA. It's pretty chilly here, actually.

September 3, 2007 12:07 PM,  cmm said...

I like it! I've been gravitating towards warmer colors recently too, maybe its just because fall is in the air around here.

I agree with Dain about all that sunlight! Its still quite warm here, but the light is starting to change, its lost that stark,bright-white summer quality that's in your picture. I wonder how much further south you are from me?

Love those earrings! I'm hoping to get to the craft store soon and see what I can find to get started with.

September 4, 2007 1:44 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Yeah, we don't get four seasons here, it's closer to two. The summer tends to be warm and dry...no rain. The winter is cold and rainy, but no snow. Occasionally it freezes but it's usually just the few nights, and a light freeze.

This summer was similar to San Francisco weather though--cold. The mornings were foggy. Sometimes it cleared by afternoon, other times it was dreary all day, and even rained some.

But now, it's hotter and sunnier than it was the better part of the summer.

Oh, definitely check out the craft store! I got my start at a craft store. Bead stores have better supplies...etailers have even better supplies...but craft stores have some of everything, it's a great place to get your feet wet.

September 1, 2007 10:16 AM,  cat who got the cream said...

The colour looks wonderful on you. Better on you than on me, but I am more a cool-toned person, so the colour looks a bit brickish on me. I have to say that the staying power is pretty good!

September 2, 2007 12:33 AM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for the kind words!

Yeah, it's definitely a warm color. I'm glad they're making coral shades again...this, and the defunct MAC Strawberry Blonde, have been my favorites.

Nice blog you have btw. :)

August 7, 2007 12:31 AM,  Dain said...

I love Patsy Cline!

August 7, 2007 3:59 AM,  Audrey_H said...

I think you should go for Chanel Hydrabase! :) It's the best Chanel lipstick formula, no doubt.

August 8, 2007 2:20 AM,  Dain said...

Hey, I'm really surprised to say this, but I'm really loving my Cover Girl Tru Shine (I got Wine Shine). the colors are misleading, I could have sworn this would be like this YSL lipstick I have, but this is far superior in color, and the formula is actually quite as good as any highend sheer. And it's almost a fifth of the price. They have quite a few shades similar to what you're looking for, I think. I want more now... as a cheap way to investigate shades to come up with some fall looks, for which lipstick will be major. The colors were blended by the mastermind behind Giorgio Armani cosmetics, Pat McGrath, so they're surprising (shades you might think would not work will), but that's in its favor, I dare say.

August 8, 2007 2:41 AM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Audrey: Yep...I'm thinking Chanel Hydrabase too. I've tried only the Moiré one, but I was very impressed.

Dain: hermmm...I tried finding this the last time I went to Longs Drugs. All they had was some sort of liquid lipcolor, and the lip-plumping lipsticks.