SAY IT TO MY FACE

My skin is looking pretty good recently, but I'm not really sure why... I started using several different products at once. Anyway my good fortune is your good fortune, so herein lies a review of some products I've been using over the past two months and how I likes 'em:

OH! Before I start I must say - I stopped eating refined sugar (SOB) and started drinking 2 litres of water a day ((yay)) about six weeks ago, so my skin looking good is probably more due to those changes in behavior than anything else. Ugh my sister was right all these years...

So, here goes, in order of how I rate the product, on a possible scale of 5

Naruko Total Defence Repairing Dew:


I heard about the Naruko product line from YouTube beauty guru Fuzkittie. The line comes from Taiwan, and you can find it on sasa.com, imomoko.com and (if you can read Mandarin) naruko.tw. Gives me glowy, dewy, hydrated and clear skin.

Burts Bees Honey Lip Balm


All hail the holy grail of lip balms. I. Love. This. And how! Honey for hydration, beeswax and coconut oil to seal in moisture and protect your skin, and no crap chemicals to get in the way. Can't be without it.

La Roche Posay Effaclar K, La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo
 

I've used these together, so I figure I should rate them together. The only reason I'm taking half a check off is, it took a month for me to see any results. But my skin is clear now so all's well that ends well.

Avene Hydrating Serum:
 

Not too sure if this made a difference, but I've been using it on my decollete, and it seems to be keeping me hydrated. No adverse reactions. Pretty good.

Aloe Vera Gel with Tea Tree Oil:
 

I use aloe vera gel on and off under my moisturiser, during winter when I need some extra hydration, and during summer because it gives you a cool tingle. It's all natural, and it's one of the true universal skin products, you can use it everywhere! My favorite incarnation is this gel with tea tree oil. I use it after toning and before any serums. It doesn't make a huge difference, but it doesn't hurt either. My skin definitely feels a little dehydrated if I don't use it. 3 checks.

Aquaphor Healing Ointment:


I should have known better. A quick glance at the ingredients could have told me that this contains mostly devilish chemicals you don't want on your face: mineral oil, paraffinum liquidum... it felt like I'd smeared Vaseline on my eyes or something, because they felt greasy and dry at the same time... how is that even possible?! So disappointing, because I have heard so many good things about this product from Makeupalley, YouTube beauty gurus, etc. I even heard Beyonce used this as a night treatment - but I didn't even like it as a lip balm.

(My friend called me a beauty product junkie the other day but I really have no idea what she's talking about...)

I STOOD UNWOUND BENEATH THE SKIES, AND CLOUDS UNBOUND BY LAWS. THE CRYIN' RAIN LIKE A TRUMPET SANG, AND ASKED FOR NO APPLAUSE.

A feast for your ears above, a feast for your eyes below. Bob Dylan and high waisted, wide legged, retro 70s jeans: A dream within a dream...

Lay Down Your Weary Tune 

by Bob Dylan

{Jeans from top: Patricia Field, Couture Candy, Jeans.com, Grey Ant (x2)}

Lay Down Your Weary Tune 

by Bob Dylan

Lay down your weary tune, lay down,

Lay down the song you strum,

And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings

No voice can hope to hum.

Struck by the sounds before the sun,

I knew the night had gone.

The morning breeze like a bugle blew

Against the drums of dawn.

Lay down your weary tune, lay down,

Lay down the song you strum,

And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings

No voice can hope to hum.

The ocean wild like an organ played

The seaweed's woven strands.

The crashin' waves like cymbals clashed

Against the rocks and sands.

Lay down your weary tune, lay down,

Lay down the song you strum,

And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings

No voice can hope to hum.

I stood unwound beneath the skies

And clouds unbound by laws.

The cryin' rain like a trumpet sang

And asked for no applause.

Lay down your weary tune, lay down,

Lay down the song you strum,

And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings

No voice can hope to hum.

The last of leaves fell from the trees

And clung to a new love's breast.

The branches bare like a banjo played

To the winds that listened best.

I gazed down in the river's mirror

And watched its winding strum.

The water smooth ran like a hymn

And like a harp did hum.

Lay down your weary tune, lay down,

Lay down the song you strum,

And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings

No voice can hope to hum.

WHO WANTS CAKE?

The funniest dinner party ever from my current favorite TV show, Californication. Who's at the table? Writer Hank Moody and his longtime girlfriend Karen, and their daughter Becca. Family friends Charlie and Marcy Runkle who have had a little too much refreshment on the way over. Mia - the impish daughter of a man Karen's left for Hank on her wedding day, and who also has a schoolgirl crush on Hank. Sonja, who got with Hank once and her fiancee Julian, a new-age spiritual guru and self help entrepreneur who may or may not be full of it. And Lew Ashby, a successful record producer who Hank met in jail and his date, who Hank also got with, (but by mistake). If that isn't confusing enough, there's a big surprise at the end of this meal for everyone .... I think that deserves a slow hand clap. 

TEACH ME YOUR WAYS

Also, Forever21 officially has a store on Oxford Street in London - I dropped by yesterday and it looks very promising. Wahoooo

GOD CHUCKLES, AND SO I LET GO

{music: Sugar Water by Cibo Matto, 2 Japanese-American sampling queens of the 90s}
{title: lyric from spoken word artist and musician Dizraeli}

I'M VERY UPSET THAT YOU CALLED MY FIESTA A WASTE OF TIME

Detail shots from LGN's summer showcase. Designers from the top are: Rose Willis, Agnieszka Światły, Cernei, Rose Willis

{Title: A quote from textsfromlastnight.com. Classic}

GIV MIG DEM

RIP Lucien Freud.

{Image: Boy Smoking by Lucien Freud 1951-1952}

YOU FIRST

Blogging has introduced me to some seriously talented London designers I'd never have heard of otherwise. Goodone. Kayinsola Onalaja. Zed Eye. And on FRIDAY NIGHT! I found another.


Yolande Letshou was kind enough to invite me to La Geneve North's Summer Catwalk Show and I was really excited to see what talent she and her team had found to present. The cool thing about LGN's events is that each one gives you a variety of designers. Fashion shows are actually quite short - even the grandest couture show only lasts 15 minutes. Not so with LGN. We got a proper show - a 10 designer presentation that ran the entire gamut of ready-to-wear, evening gowns, handbags, conceptual fashion and even a performance piece showcasing convertible custom made designs. 


However, when the dust settled and the curtain closed, Rose Willis stood head and shoulders above the other designers. I get a young Barbara Hulianicki vibe from her line - Rose Willis - which she designs and produces from a garden studio in Surrey (an analogy for those who aren't familiar: Connecticut is to New York as Surrey is to London). She's currently got two collections going - her S/S11 line, and another she expressly designed and produced for the LGN summer show. And I WANT IT ALL. First images below.





  

Stunning stuff. More images to come when my digital camera gets its life together and decides to cooperate.

Anyway, thanks so much to Yolande and the team at La Geneve North for inviting me out, I can't wait to see what you come up with next...!

{Clothing images and info from www.rosewillis.co.uk}

PS: I was on my way back from the show, which was in Central London, when I turned a corner and saw the Spirit of Soho mural. If you look closely you can see St Anne, Karl Marx, Mozart, Dylan Thomas and George Melly, and as much as I've walked around that area, I'd never seen it before. Kind of matches Rose's summer collection.. 

WOW THAT WAS REALLY HEAVY

{Music: Janis Joplin Ball & Chain at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967}

{Title comes from what Mama Cass from the Mamas and the Papas said after Janis finished performing}

AND WHAT ROUGH BEAST, ITS HOUR COME ROUND AT LAST, SLOUCHES TOWARDS BETHLEHAM TO BE BORN?

Images from an exhibition from fashion label Prophetik, at The Rag Factory (off of Brick Lane, London). The clothes were why we were all there, but what really got my attention was the mannequins.

{title comes from the poem "The Second Coming" by Yeats}

UP AND AT 'EM

Here's what I wore one day.

And for today's movie we have Divorce, Italian Style (Divorzio all'Italiana). This guy is unhappily married, and in love with another woman. BUT, it's traditional Italy and they are good Catholics - they can't split up. So, he decides he's got to kill his wife. The thing is..... it's HILLARIOUS. A "black comedy" they call it. In this video, he's at the beach with his wife and her parents, when he runs into the girl he's infatuated with. Have a look-see. 

CWY

This blatantly had to make it onto my blog at some point...! Cab Calloway leading a big band while the Nicholas Brothers dance in Stormy Weather, starred in by Lena Horne. Absolutely, incredibly classic.


{The title, CWY is how you write "Cherokee" in the Cherokee language. Written Cherokee is "syllabary", which basically means that each character represents a syllable. So, "TSA-LA-GHEE" (the word "Cherokee" in Cherokee) has three syllables, so it only needs 3 letters - CWY. Sequoyah invented the written Cherokee language all by himself. Smart man. Here's what the whole alphabet looks like:

}