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Life of Colleen
What I've been into, lately
posted by Colleen Shirazi
2010-01-11
at 10:20 PM (Pacific)
Everyone came back from our furlough today. It was nice, seeing them all again.
My daughter commented that my wardrobe development was pretty much over with; all I'd need were a few particular items. I should say she's been an excellent wardrobe consultant, having the artistic eye I so do not. It's one of the best ways to do it...find an artist. It's like in school, where you would find the mathematician.
Got one of these:
It was a splurge, but it's killer. It's just the thing if you have thin, annoying hair like I do. The teeth keep it from sliding around.
Been using this:
It's a deep pink lipstick I'd tried on at the now-defunct Elephant Pharmacy in Berkeley, years ago. I remembered liking it; but, when I bought it, I found it too much color and wondered why I'd liked it in the first place.
I must have tried it on in the winter, because it works now. So...winter might be a good time to bring out lipsticks that didn't work when you had more color yourself. It's counterintuitive, because you're thinking deeper color would look better against a tan of some sort, but somehow it doesn't, at least on me.
This is from a previous "What I've been into, lately" post, because the original was taken down. There was a time in my life when I listened to a lot of Daryush. I find I always return to the same things, the same people, the same concepts.Labels: hair, makeup, music, videos, wardrobe, what i've been into lately
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Odds and sods, part 3
posted by Colleen Shirazi
2009-12-22
at 10:26 PM (Pacific)
Eh...tired. House cleaning, laundry, mending, yadda yadda...
Which brings us to:
Tide Coldwater detergent. I've used this for several rounds o' clothes; so far, it's good. It cleans as well in cold water as regular Tide would in warm. Possibly too soon to say, but it also appears to fade colors less quickly than regular Tide would in cold.
In 2010, I'm planning to get some black dye from Dharma Trading Company, and toss all my fading black cottons and linens into a ginormous dye vat. The site is a trip: four kinds of black dye (Black, Jet Black, Better Black, New Black), half a page of advice specifically on black dye, plus an entire small-print page of instructions on how to do it.
And finally--given this blog still touts itself as a beauty blog, despite the fact I seldom if ever post about beauty products any more--a passage about makeup.
My beloved Nars Jezebel duo eyeshadow has bitten the dust:
It's still in the "Vintage" section (which is polite, apparently, for "discontinued")... And there is a 20% off $60 coupon code, CP9H1211, good through December 31, 2009, at narscosmetics.com, and free shipping for $25 orders--et cetera.
Buying a back-up copy of Jezebel, and tossing in some other Nars-a-licious product to get the discount, would appear a cosmetiholic no-brainer.
But...do I really want a back-up copy of Jezebel in the first place? It's my favorite eyeshadow--the lilac side features a good-sized dent, whilst the coppery side can't, since it requires a light touch. The duo goes with just about everything...but it'll be months, if not years, before the thing gets used up. I bought it July 2007, and Nars eyeshadows keep for years, without the tragic hardening of, say, MAC eyeshadows, or anything weird and crumbly happening.
I'd much rather wait longer and visit a b & m Sephora and just fiddle around with whatever's on offer at the time.Labels: coupon code, makeup, nars, product reviews, wardrobe
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Yadda yadda
posted by Colleen Shirazi
2008-12-08
at 12:01 AM (Pacific)
Sorry about the plethora of musical videos, paired with an utter dearth of content. I haven't had much time to blog in a while.
I had to post that one anyway as I'd completely forgotten about the song, though not about Armatrading. My friend back home was heavily into her (as I was into Chrissie Hynde), but it's hard to resist lyrics such as these:
I sit here by myself
And you know I love it
You know I don't want someone
To come pay a visit
I wanna be by myself
I came in this world alone
Me myself I
I want to go to China
And to see Japan
I'd like to sail the oceans
Before the seas run dry
I wanna go by myself
I've just room enough for one
Me myself I
I wanna be a big shot
And have ninety cars
I wanna have a boyfriend
And a girl for laughs
But only on Saturdays
Six days to be alone
With just me myself I
Me myself and I
Just me myself I
Don't want to be the bad guy
Don't want to make a soul cry
It's not that I love myself
I just don't want company
Except me myself I
Me myself and I
Just me myself I
I sit here by myself
And you know I love it
You know I don't want someone
To come pay a visit
I wanna be by myself
I came in this world alone
Me myself I
Me myself I
Me myself and I
Just me myself I
Once I stumbled across this on Youtube, I recalled the song blazing out from the radio (yes, we had "radios" back then), and the idea of a woman standing up and saying she wanted to be alone was (and is) quite radical. I suppose a Greta Garbo comes along every few decades or so. :D
So, what have I been up to, beauty- and fashion-wise. Not much. I replaced my MAC Blot pressed powder, after months of parsimoniously chasing the ring o' powder left in the compact. It lasts a surprisingly long time that way, assuming you don't want a lot of powder at once. I've long fallen out of love with MAC, but you can't beat MAC Blot pressed with a stick; nothing like it anywhere.
Also repurchased Dr. Hauschka Nasturtium and Lemon shampoo. I'd brought my first bottle to Jamaica, where I needed to wash my hair twice per day--I'm picky about having clean hair in the morning, and you have to shower off the salt water in the evening before you dress up and eat dinner. Nasturtium and... did very well there.
Its claim to calm itchy scalp is valid, with consistent use. In fact I use Nasturtium and... on the top of my head, and some other shampoo on the rest of my hair. That way I get neither bored nor buildup, and it cuts the cost some.
Other than that, I've been doing more recession-ista shopping. Even as the prices of things you have to buy skyrocket, the prices of things you could probably live without have dropped dramatically. It's well to stock up; you don't need to bring out everything at once.
Labels: dr. hauschka, hair, makeup, music, videos, yadda yadda
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Skinbotanica.com order arrives
posted by Colleen Shirazi
2008-10-28
at 12:01 AM (Pacific)
That was fast! Everything was to spec: the Dr. Hauschka #09 lipsticks and their Macadamia & Orange shampoo, and Nasturtium & Lemon shampoo. They chunked in two samples as well: La Roche-Posay Nutritic Ultra-Fine Cream and Dermalogica oil control lotion (clearing--presumably the same as the "Clearing Mattifier" on the site).
When I was registering my account, they did ask what skin type/problems I had, and carelessly I declined to fill it out. Bleh? Better to fill it out next time.
Anyhow, quite pleased. I'll review the shampoos later on when I try them.Labels: dr. hauschka, hair, makeup
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My skinbotanica.com order
posted by Colleen Shirazi
2008-10-24
at 12:01 AM (Pacific)
 #01 Amoroso, #09 Dolce
Several days ago, I ran out of my Dr. Hauschka #09 Dolce lipstick. Research showed that tube was purchased May 27, less than five months ago (okay, it was a matter of pulling up an old blogger post).
Given the lifespan of this lipstick, logic dictated the purchase of two tubes at a pop, not one. No longer a casual endeavor, not to be done in haste. I decided to try replacing #09 online, in hopes of a better price.
Enter...my own blog. :D My Internet label is a "bookmarks" tag, to keep track of potentially useful sites. I'd posted earlier about a sale code for a site carrying Dr. Hauschka products, namely SkinBotanica.com, so I checked there to see if they had the Hauschka lipsticks (which aren't that hard to find anymore; drugstore.com carries them too).
SkinBotanica is not a small site. They feature a slew of "natural" brands besides Hauschka--John Masters Organics, Jane Iredale, NVEY Eco, REN, Eminence, Juice Beauty, many more...
And it's linked to two other sites, Skin Care Rx and AnneMichele.com. (The Banana Republic-Gap-Old Navy-Piperlime concept, where you put everything into one cart with one flat shipping fee.)
I realize this post smells like a spam sandwich right about now, but I'm not affiliated with SkinBotanica, and would certainly say so if I were.
Skin Care Rx carries La Roche-Posay, ah, a bunch of other skincare brands...I'm not into topical skincare much, but there are quite a few if you are.
AnneMichele.com carries Jurlique, Etro, Annick Goutal, Laura Tonatto, Zents, Nuxe, bunch o' other brands.
What's sweet: free shipping on $49 orders, and I found a coupon code for 20% off both SkinBotanica and Skin Care Rx (didn't seem to work for AnneMichele products, but worth a shot):
SBINTRO
They deducted the coupon before calculating shipping, so I had to throw in extra product to avoid paying shipping (don't laugh--adding the last item made the total smaller).
I decided to try two Hauschka shampoos, on the reasoning: a.) They're actually not that expensive--$13 for 8 oz.; b.) "Washing hair" is two separate entities: washing hair and washing scalp. My scalp has been irritated lately, and I'm wondering if the Hauschka shampoos are as good for problem scalp as their skincare has been for problem skin.
I have contemplated trying Nizoral in fact, but years of adult acne make me leery of harsh chemical treatments for skin problems. They don't work for acne, that's for sure; the tendency is either "works at first, then stops working" or "works by destroying your skin." The better way is long-term, gentle products with boatloads of research behind them.
So, let's see how these guys are! I already got the two shampoos for $8.72.
(42 * 1.0875) vs. (42 + 26) * (0.8)Labels: coupon code, dr. hauschka, makeup
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On finding the right lipstick, and Dr. Hauschka lipstick review (#09 Dolce)
posted by Colleen Shirazi
2008-10-15
at 6:23 PM (Pacific)
  "Same roof, different climates."
It took me years to find a lipstick I cared to use up and repurchase. To be fair, lipstick has a mess o' variables, beyond the obvious shade (which itself can appear very different depending on the natural color of your lips and skin). Factors include texture, taste, scent, lasting power, versatility, transfer, tendency to bleed, moisturizing properties, packaging, price and availability, and--seldom mentioned but quite key--how well this lipstick suits your personality.
In the art of lipstick-seeking, the Indian makeup blogs deserve mention. They seem to fully appreciate the toil of choosing the right lipstick--and the rewards in doing so.
A gem mined from a quick google on "indian lipstick blog":
The Indian Make-up Diva: Besame Noir Red: Deep, Dark Red Lipstick
Is it killer or what?--lipstick, photo, and clarity of prose. It's a rather general search, to pull up something completely useful.
And a quote which has lingered in my mind for years--"Manners maketh a man but a lipstick maketh a woman!!"--was also from an online Indian makeup article, predating the blogs.
Serendipity found "my lipstick" for me: an exceptional Dr. Hauschka PR rep sent some samples to me. In those days, I was still wearing MAC Sophisto and Viva Glam V. That summer, I tried Hauschka's #01 Amoroso lipstick:
...and ended up scrapping it in favor of their #09 Dolce, as the latter proved far more versatile and less seasonal (Amoroso was too much color come winter). As I write, I'm nursing the last sliver of my second tube of Dolce.
#09 has a certain level of brown as well as its sheer coral-toned rose. It doesn't look much brown on me, but then most lipsticks don't. It's a bit shimmery, and has an odd herbal Hauschka scent.
If I could fault it, it has a certain amount of transfer, but that would be nitpicking. (It's not as smeary as, say, a Clinique Butter Shine I owned before.) Dolce lasts reasonably well on (I refuse to use any lipstick requiring more than three or four touch-ups per day), and they give you a fair amount in the tube. Packaging isn't that crucial to me, but the simple brushed gold-toned metal tube is pretty decent.
It costs about as much as I'd care to pay for lipstick--$21, the same range as Chanel and Nars.
My second choice would have been Chanel, on the basis of their Moiré lipstick, which I've tried in sample form. The two shades are not dissimilar: both decidedly warm (Dolce more so than Moiré), blended with dibs and dabs of brown and rose (Dolce more to the coral, Moiré to the plum, with an interesting brick red tone), both with a scrim of shimmer.
Moiré is more "lipsticky" than Dolce, if that makes sense, and it's a cooler, more elegant color. Ultimately I was more attracted to the warmth and "brightness" of Dolce (as well as to the more natural Hauschka formulation).
That is the personality factor, which I feel is lacking from most "how to find the right lipstick" articles. Much has been penned on coordinating lipstick with skintone and hair color, but there is always a wide range of lipsticks to match those.Labels: dr. hauschka, makeup
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Pursebuzz reviews Nars eyeshadows
posted by Colleen Shirazi
2008-10-02
at 12:01 AM (Pacific)
I realized at some point this evening, I didn't have much to blog about. I have my eye on a few things, some opportunity shopping...but my big purchases (shoes, boots and fall/winter skirt) will wait until I find the price I like--or until it gets too cold, whichever comes first.
So I continued my Youtube hunt for good makeup videos. I hadn't looked there in quite some time, and was a bit fascinated by how many plain ol' product review videos are up now. The product review video would appear to have eclipsed the photographic product review, which in turn had overtaken the...well, the review we used to type into the BBS text box.
This is different from makeup tutorials, which have been pretty much played out imo. Once you get your set of brushes and figure out your brand(s), after all, most of the work has already been done.
Anyhow--thanks, Pursebuzz. I genuinely enjoyed this video and learned something new.Labels: makeup, nars, videos
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Nars eyeshadow thoughts
posted by Colleen Shirazi
2008-09-14
at 12:01 AM (Pacific)
So I was bored, and put together this collage of the Nars eyeshadows I use.
The odd one is the duo at the bottom, Jezebel. I've thought for months, if not years, of buying a "neutral" Nars eyeshadow duo. Doesn't everyone need neutral eyeshadows? Aren't you supposed to own them?
Yet Jezebel is quite neutral. I darkened the pic a bit to make it stand out more, but it's basically a matte lilac shade (more to the pink than to the blue), paired with a deep copper. The coppery shade already sort of qualifies as a neutral, and the lilac one is sheer (not invisible like so many other lilacs, but you don't get bright pastel purple eyelids).
I suspect my plans for neutral Nars will remain on the back burner for now.Labels: makeup, nars
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