etsy // OF VANITY

i am now officially an etsy store owner! as of last night, actually. i've filled my store, OF VANITY, with glassware, vases and other beautiful pieces meant for creating the perfect vanity table. as i wrote in my etsy bio:

for as long as i can remember, i've been enamored with makeup and fragrance. and i can't remember a time where i haven't created a distinct space to display all of my favorites. from antique stores in manhattan and vermont to vintage markets in italy and france, i've scoured these shops to put together a collection of treasures.

vanity tables have always fascinated me. a place in your home that channels and inspires beauty. though ever-changing, this a photo of my vanity table right now:

it's certainly morphed over the years, with each apartment i've lived in, but has always taken on a vintage, feminine, floral, pastel-hued form.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/OFVANITY

sugar pills

it was around the new year that my family spent a few days in manhattan. we stayed in a times square hotel, and i don't remember much of what we did, besides going to the nba store where o-town happened to be performing. it was the year 2000. though i do remember going to sephora/times square and my mom let me choose one beauty treat. my pick? a sparkly baby-blue eyeliner from hard candy. i still have it at my parent's house. actually, i have most of old beauty products. they [obviously] haven't been used in years, but i don't have the heart to throw them away. perfumes from bath & body works i bought when i was 12. five hard candy nail polishes, less their chunky rings that fit around the top, from when i was 13. a stila lip gloss quartet that my mom bought me during a trip to saks, age 14. et cetera. so all of this unusable makeup lying around, and a week of lolling around at my parent's house in connecticut, had me making some lemonade out of lemons. or pill cases from empty lip gloss pots from tenth grade. whatever.

i bought these two lip glosses [by sugar cosmetics!] when i was 15. i haven't seen this brand in ages, but at the time, its translucent fuchsia packaging always drew me in. i bought them both at sephora on a trip into the city with my mom, aunt and cousin kate. we went in to see broadway shows [rent! hairspray!] and i remember being absolutely astounded that sephora was open until midnight. new york! the city that never sleeps!
 

anyway, these probably expired nine years ago. so what's a girl to do? scoop out the gloss, give them a good wash and fill them with pills. their twist-off caps made this re-purposing a no-brainer. and it's certainly a more desirable alternative to the typical utilitarian options, no?

glass castle

an afternoon spent in ikea resulted in just two purchases, well three if you count the plate of swedish meatballs ben treated me to mid-way through our trip. a crystal star-shaped dish and a mauve scalloped bowl. a pretty way to display nail polish and lip gloss, no?

see also: mor and mor to sweetly store makeup brushes

pretty simple

one day of candy-colored hair using supplies from the art store? sign me up. several beauty blogs have been posting how-tos lately, and i just had to give this a try. its simplicity (and washability) intrigued me. ever since i saw ms. charlotte free rock her pink tresses last year at fashion week, i've been dye-ing (lame!) to try out this look. i just didn't want to commit. 

i headed over to the art store for the goods: soft pastels, i used sennelier. turquoise and magenta. i came home and colored in varying strands of my ballerina bun. that is all, it was that easy. i read that it works best if you're going to wear your hair up, as the pastels may make their way down on to clothing. darker hair? make sure to wet it first to capture the pigment. but if you're a blonde, do not add water. it would actually create a dye. unless that's what you're going for. it's rather chic, no? 

and as promised, it washed out the next day.

perfect fit

sometimes something comes into your life, and you don't even know how truly right it is at first. and once the dust settles, you can't imagine life without it. it's a perfect fit.

much like this crystal/turquoise beaded chandelier that i ordered from urban outfitters a few months ago, of course. it is the third chandelier in my apartment, remember this one i made a few summers ago? when it first arrived, i wasn't quite sure about it. but oh gee, it really is quite lovely. it came slightly damaged. several detached beaded strands (that were impossible to fix) caused for it to hang lopsided. but instead of sending it back, i attached a large crystal (that i inherited from my great aunt) for the perfect balance and a personal touch. 

blue beauty

last week, nars launched a line of nail color in collaboration with thakoon that was inspired by the designer's spring collection. the shades are strikingly pretty, but one hue stands out amongst the rest. kutki. i just know that this pretty powdery blue will be my summer go-to. and even though i have said this about three other summer shades so far, this really is the one. i swear. it's more vibrant than the typical sky blues that grace store shelves this time of year. it's warmer, richer. i like to think of it as the blue answer to the 2009 phenom of creamy green mint candy apple by essie, which 7/10 of my friends are wearing at any given moment.

the laundry

if you really want to indulge, go out there and get yourself a bottle of le labo's rose 31 detergent. it is beyond divine and it will make wearing a white tee, slipping into sheets, drying off with a towel, etc. more lovely than you could ever imagine. trust me. 

my mother has been using this stuff for years, so whenever i travel back to connecticut, i am overly eager to bring my laundry along with me. but this weekend, she got me a bottle of my very own (merci, merci, merci!), so i guess this means i can pack a bit lighter from now on for a weekend home.

elle

somewhere in soho.

mor and mor

i couldn't just toss this mor candle in the garbage after it was finished. it was far too pretty with its perfect white glass and pretty metallic peacocks. i am a complete sucker for packaging (proof: i have four empty britney spears curious bottles in my apartment), so clearly this jar just needed a new purpose.

and voila, a new makeup brush holder, which has also inspired me to actually use my makeup brushes again. a win-win.

pretty simple

gems in my jewelry box,

and ranunculuses by my bed.

charlotte free

charlotte free: the latest face of maybelline. i can't even begin to describe how bewitchingly beautiful this girl is.

i have seen countless of models backstage. countless, countless. and they are all lovely. stunning. georgeous. but, i don't think i've seen any model as captivating as charlotte. when we saw her backstage at the spring 2012 ronson show (see below), britt and i could not take our eyes off of her. 

she glows. and i don't think i've ever seen a picture of her that truly captures (even nearly) her magnetism. but anyway, to the beauty giant, perfect choice!

wishes and dreams

oh god, i would probably never go through with it, but when asked a few weeks ago if i would ever have cosmetic surgery i said: "only lip injections." they seem [relatively] harmless and sometimes pretty. have you ever had surgery? i had non-elective surgery three years ago and it is not something i would do again if you paid me. let alone something i would ever pay for. it's painful and disorienting, though the hospital was an adventure of sorts and was fairly interesting.

anyway! lip injections. ever since my comment, it's been a total case of "you get what you wish for." last week, ben's friend gave me a robust side-hug in which his watch went straight  for my bottom lip. much pain. the next day, the solid-block-of-ice in my water bottle [thanks, freezer!] came crashing down on my top lip [more pain] as i tried to take a sip [of the 3 droplets] of water.

all the results without the price and stigma!

a suntan

after reading a book with my dad before bed, he'd tell me stories about his childhood. mostly about his friends, brett and boo, who he would get into all sorts of harmless trouble with; breaking their arms falling out of tree houses and the like. think dennis the menace. he had many, many stories to share about growing up. friends, family, school. all entertaining enough to become bedtime stories.

one story that i remember: a boy from his school, in preparation for a dance, used a [first generation?] self-tanner that turned his skin orange. everyone laughed at him at the dance and, after countless requested story-repeats, so did i. every time. an orange boy? ha. just think, that self-tanner tale was so memorable that my dad used it as a bedtime story, and i still remember it over 15 years later.

and still, i laugh, because i [countless times] have had an orange hue. at the start of my job, i willingly tried every tanner that passed through the office doors. nobody else would. streaky skin and orange palms were just a part of the job. i am now more discerning, i swear. there were also the unseasonable [winter in vermont] spray tans from body le bronze in preparation for ultra-glamorous nights out in college. and i still get slightly nostalgic every time i smell some variant of that jergens gradual-tan moisturizer. i was champing at the bit to buy it as soon as it hit store shelves. oh and of course, sally hansen airbrush legs. clearly i am no stranger to an enhanced complexion.

but, i can not fail to mention my first dabble into the world of self tanning at age 11. bizarre to think that i even cared about tanned skin at that age, especially only years before i was laughing at the thought of changing your skin's tone. but, it was a purchase from [now defunct] limited too. they had just launched a collection of personal care products, va-va-vanilla shower gels and berrylicious body sprays, which oddly [since its target customer was more/less 10 and this was before the reign of paris hilton] included a self tanner. it came in a sky blue tube and had a yellow sun squiggled on the packaging. i remember using it several times, without any truly noticeable difference, before it remained untouched in a bathroom drawer for several years.

though i am no longer in search of the perfect faux glow, a hint of color is always nice and i can't get enough of dr. dennis gross skincare alpha beta glow pads. they provide a reasonable amount of warmth to winter's skin-sans-sun without the risk of leaving streaks or orange hands; and offers a dose of vitamin d. see? i am now discerning.

gone forever

i once had a little mirror. it was hot pink plastic, in the shape of a heart, and on the back of it was a purple rhinestone heart. i loved it. i remember driving to my aunt's house with my mother, grandmother and older brother. vague memory, but i was sitting behind the driver's seat and i had the mirror in my hand. as soon as we got out of the car, my brother took it from me and threw it in the woods. never to be seen again. i must have been three or so, but i still remember. and i am still slightly bitter.

other things that i loved, lost/broken and think about:

heart necklace

on a family trip to the american museum of natural history in the city when i was nine, i bought a little crystal heart necklace at the gift shop. to remind me of the gem and mineral room, of course. that room has always been my favorite. anyway, i remember playing out on our front lawn when i realized that i was no long wearing it. i had an inkling that it fell near one of the trees but i was never able to find it. i looked for it for years. when ben and i went to the museum in april, they no longer sold that necklace.

green ring

it was emily's birthday weekend and all six of us piled into justin's suv. one of us had to sit in the trunk. alternating. but we went over to the brooklyn flea in fort greene and i bought two marvelous pieces of jewelry. a crystal bracelet that i am over-the-moon about but rarely wear because i am that afraid of losing it [because i did lose it! but it was returned to me], and a massive, [faux] emerald ring. seen below:

the emerald fell out. somewhere. i don't even remember where, but i think it might have been lost in my apartment. i still have the metal ring so i suppose i could easily replace the stone with another lovely big jewel. i just haven't yet. the ring and the bracelet were five dollars each.

pink ring

oh, this was my favorite forever 21 jewelry purchase. ever. it came as a set of five rings, but i really only wanted the gold band with the magenta stone. i actually bought two sets. just in case anything happened to the pink ring. and something did happen! maybe i should just not think these thoughts. the stone broke off within a few days. and the same thing happened to the next. yet it seems funny because absolutely nothing happened to the other rings in the set. which i've been wearing on and off for over a year now. whatever.

here is a wonky picture of the beauteous ring that i took on photobooth at ben's old apartment this summer:

i look for a duplicate of this ring everywhere. but nothing ever seems exactly like it. not in stores, not on etsy. it should be fairly easy to find another, right? but i just haven't. have you seen it?

le sigh. 

nyfw FALL 2012

the monday before fashion week started, i got an iPhone and quickly became an addict. au revoir, blackberry. so you can imagine how much fun i was having using instagram backstage. even though i have always thought the app was super cheesey, once i actually had it, i was hooked.

pretties backstage at marc by marc jacobs:

and even though the pictures' saturations and contrasts were all changed with i.g., all of the beautiful things [and people] i captured still would have been just as lovely.

and the models! they're so young, but so fab. one of my favorites is daphne groeneveld. she caught my eye ever since i saw the dreamy jill stuart spring 2012 campaign [shot by mario sorrenti] and i am obviously not alone. it seems like she is everywhere. i snapped this pic of her at derek lam:

super geeky but i instagramed this photo, tagged her in it and she LIKED it. and then she looked through my other pictures and LIKED others, too. i also saw her many times backstage...at marc by marc, jill stuart, and other shows that i just can't remember right now. i should have written this post when everything was fresh in my mind. anyway. here she is on the cover of tuesday's daily. does the collar look familiar?

also, here is frida on the daily's cover on day one:

i've mentioned my love of the daily before. lighthearted fun but informative. there was a nice piece on the gentlewoman's EIC penny martin in the weekend edition. i love the gentlewoman. i can't even get started on my pile-up of magazines right now [stress], but my gentlewoman copy is definitely on top. anyway, i was up at lincoln center everyday except for thursday, so i have almost a complete collection from fall 2012.

i also saw hanne gaby odiele. again at derek lam:

and another favorite: miss lindsey wixson. this was taken backstage at jill stuart:

 

see how fun instagram is/was? i just wish i kept things more in sync with each other - so many options for colors/borders. whatever.

backstage at elie tahari:

at jill stuart:

 and narciso rodriguez:

 

so now it is all over. and i have free time again, though everyone knows how much i love this time of year. it's not every day that you say hello to betsey johnson. or witness a rather moving pep-talk by mr. tahari himself, which was full of warm thanks for his team. or the chance to talk to super-famous models about jeweled cellphone cases. or get photographed outside of a backstage entrance like a celebrity. ha! le sigh, along with all the wonderfulness that happened last season, and the season before that.

oh and i was photographed by the cut! they took down my name, profession and such -- but sadly, i didn't make the cut. literally. but whatever. it would have been quite funny if i did as i was wearing my big sleeping bag coat. [courtesy of my mother, from talbots, which i refuse to give back.]

and here are a few more!

at marc by marc jacobs:

 

at richard chai:

makeup at charlotte ronson:

history lessons

beauty queen

did you know that one of the fastest growing categories on youtube is beauty tutorial videos? i've seen a few of them here and there, but i've never actually tried to follow along with one. until now. i figured i'd go all out and choose the "miss universe 2010 inspired look." it has nearly 160,000 views and the girl instructing clearly has some serious skills.

thanks to photobooth and its grainy pictures, you can't really tell how terrible i was at the eyeshadow. but, whatever. i looked/felt like a clown and i wouldn't leave my apartment like that. ever. i'll stick to my mostly makeup-free look.

makeup-free me:

pageant princess:

summer beauty

remember how i said it'd be interesting to see how my makeup bag changes every season? well, i've pretty much done away with a beauty routine completely. it's hot. i don't want anything on my face. or spend any time worrying about what it looks like. especially in this hot city heat. it's probably dripping down my face anyhow.

so for now:

moisturizer SK-II skin signature moisturizing cream, every morning and night.

brows benefit brows a-go-go, i am terrified of skinny eyebrows.

lips MAC lipstick in snob; la mer lip balm

the piece de resistance eyelash extensions, they last a month or so.

i believe, as long as my skin looks good (the moisturizer is crucial) and my lashes are long, there really isn't a need for anything else. easy. simple. summer.

oh and before i leave the house:

fragrance guerlain shalimar parfum intial

beauteous

i am a beauty product addict. i always have been. and after blowing the majority of my bat mitzvah money* on lip gloss, it's only fitting that i would work for a beauty mag.

today i had the thought of how interesting it would be to see how my beauty essentials change each season. i have countless (!) products, but only a pared-down few get chosen for my compact carryall.

here's what i've been loving lately:

lipstick MAC lipstick in snob and gulabi

lipgloss chanel, levres scintillantes glossimer; jane iredale, pure gloss in candied rose

eyeliner stila, stay all day waterproof liquid eye liner; guerlain, terracotta kohl kajal

blush nars, blush in orgasm

brushes too faced, flatbuki and bronze-buki

mascara avon super shock max; MAC, false lashes

primer too faced, primed and poreless; clinique, instant perfector

eyelash curler shu uemura

brows benefit, brows a-go-go; anastasia, brow fix
fragrance l'artisan mure et musc

i will re-visit this idea in a few months. the only thing i could be sure of is the MAC snob lipstick. i've been wearing it since i was 15.

*of what didn't go into savings, of course

nyfw FALL 2011

i am so grateful that i was able to attend fashion week again. i had so many lovely and weird experiences backstage while i was reporting. each day was something different.

i witnessed top models have complete meltdowns. and i witnessed them being darling sweethearts. i sat in the front row once. but usually i was in the 3rd row or sometimes i was only backstage. i was in the same room as countless celebrities. i met (my idol) joan rivers and she was so nice and funny. it must have been from all the good karma i have, from (incessantly) recommending her documentary, that i got to meet her. P.S. go see her doc. really.

here are a few things that i saw.

reporter's notebook

the week's schedule

and my collection of press credentials

but, my favorite memory of all:

i (very glamorously) took the m23 crosstown bus to twenty-second street and tenth avenue to center548, where the jason wu show was being held. two girls were denied entry before me and as i walked towards the elevator after checking in, a security guard pulled me aside and mistook me for a model. i smirked and then tweeted about it and took the elevator upstairs to the backstage area. as far as backstages go, everyone was down to business at jason wu. i threw my sleeping-bag coat off into a corner (i did not see a coat check) and went over to the makeup stations where models were getting ready. a woman came up to me and told me that i needed to have my hair done, she must not have seen my reporter's notebook in my hand. "thank you, but i'm a writer." five minutes later i was interviewing her. she was the lead hair stylist. and to have this happen at one of the major shows of the week where some of my favorite models (hi, lindsey wixson! you're fab!) were walking! insane. a good fashion week memory.

so now, i miss getting my copies of the daily (the mag that is given out everyday during fashion week that reports on collections, but is also very who's who) and having rows of half-full miniature bottles of fiji water line my fridge (coolers were stocked with them everywhere you looked). and i (sort of) miss waking up at a six-thirty to be at a show at eight, catching late cabs home and being wildly exhausted in the best possible way. but, most of all, i miss the energy of just being at lincoln center through all of it.

le sigh.

having these wonderful experiences certainly makes me reminisce. two years ago, i went to the fall 2009 shows (a few weeks after i moved to manhattan!) and it was all just a massive culture shock to me. now it is my favorite time of year and luckily, it occurs twice.