Tag: Beauty Products

Seven Things I Love (4-11-2022)

  1. 1. This Winslow Homer Painting – I just think it’s an incredible piece of art but if you want to read an in-depth analysis of the piece, you can find that here.
“Dressing for the Carnival” by Winslow Homer, (1877)

[Found in The New Yorker]

  1. 2. These Easter Bonnets – You know what they say, GO BIG OR GO HOME!

3. These Cookies – Too cute to eat! I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E! (But did she sterilize that date stamper?)

@paintedladiespastry

Cookie Library Card decorated with royal icing and edible ink #cookiedecorating #isitcake

♬ Tom’s Diner – AnnenMayKantereit & Giant Rooks

[Found by Ann L. – thanks Ann!]

4. This Lip Balm – I had been using the same lip balm (Sugar Advanced Therapy Treatment Lip Balm) for some time but found that whenever I carried it in places where it could get warm it got melty. Kiehl’s has a similar product that is better but I’m not sure they are making it anymore. I haven’t been able to find it for a while and their website shows it is out of stock in all colors (though they do have a “notify me” option on the page.)

They both lasted longer than most lip balms I had found but I still have to re-apply throughout the day. That is when I found this product. Well, technically I found this first, but it’s a bit pricey. So I looked for something similar that wasn’t going to break the bank AND that was an all natural product.

And I found it. Lather lip conditioning balm is $11 per tube and it lasts for hours. No more peeling lips! I also fell in love with the Sweet Almond Face moisturizer ($26) and the Rose & Shea Hand Therapy ($16).

5. This (AWESOME) NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert – at the Los Angeles Public Library!

[Found on Uproxx]

6. This Banned Book – Which resulted in a non-fiction graphic book about its banning to be published in fall of 2023.

Jarrett Dapier was a library science graduate student in 2013 when he filed a Freedom of Information Act request that resulted in his uncovering a Chicago school district’s attempt to remove Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi without following the formal book challenge process. Once the information became public there was an outcry from both students and parents.

The book, called Wake Now In The Fire, is written by Dapier and illustrated by AJ Dungo, and tells the story of a group of high school students who are trying to push back against censorship at their own school.

[Found on Book Riot]

7. These Two Friends – Denise Mercedes and Maria Castellanos like to show how clothes look on bodies of different sizes. I would give anything to have had more body positivity growing up.

[Found on My Modern Met]

Word of the Week


Quote of the Week


Song of the Week

I thought I’d add a new section to the blog. Am I taking requests? We’ll see.
Either way, hopefully you’ll discover something new or reminisce on something old.

Click on the image to go to the video to hear the song.

Natalia Lafourcade – Alma Mía (En Manos de Los Macorinos) ft. Los Macorinos

Ten* Things I Love (7-20-2020)

1. If We Treated Teachers Like Pro Athletes – Key & Peele – this is from a few years ago but SOOOOOO relevant right now.

2. This Ingenious Hummingbird – Paraguayan Conservationist Bianca Caroline Soares snapped this photo back in September of 2019. She had been observing hummingbird nests for over a year but when she saw this one she knew it was something unique and special.

“The hummingbird went on to have two chicks, and Soares was able to capture the trio under one roof—literally. The flexible nest expanded to fit the new additions and the leaf was able to cover them all.”

From ‘Clever Hummingbird Builds a Nest Complete With a Giant Leaf Roof‘ by Sara Barnes, My Modern Met, July 14, 2020

3. This Tutorial by Telenovela star Kate del Castillo on How to be an Action Star – She is HILAROUS! I had tears in my eyes. I am planning on subscribing to Peacock TV I’m just waiting for my smartTV to get an app.

4. These three incredibly talented beauties – Norah, Yarah & Rosa known as Let it Happen (thanks to my friend Jeta for originally sharing this video). Just wow.

5. Hear Ye, Hear YeThe Queen has her own Gin. There is pretty much nothing more perfect (and British) than this. Sadly it has already sold out. It is/was only available in the UK but I was hoping to get a bottle when I went over next year. Sigh.

The Queen is famous (infamous?) for having the same four cocktails every day.

From Vanity Fair (and Food & Wine):

And Food and Wine uncovered another detail about the Queen’s daily intake: the 91-year-old reportedly consumes four cocktails a day. And why shouldn’t she!? Let’s run through what they are:

Her first drink, per former royal chef Darren McGrady, enjoyed shortly before lunch, is a gin and Dubonnet with a slice of lemon and a “lot of ice.” Sure, this sounds about right. A classy and posh and powerful concoction.

Then, during lunch, she’ll have a piece of chocolate and a glass of wine at meal’s end. (That we have been eating lunch all these years without closing with a piece of chocolate and glass of wine now makes us feel utterly foolish.)

O.K., then, also at lunch, the Queen drinks a dry gin martini, according to her cousin Margaret Rhodes. So, yes, we are now at three drinks by roughly 1 p.m.

Her final drink of the day? It actually doesn’t come until she’s going to sleep: a glass of Champagne before bed.

6. Quarantine Public Library – this delightful little site currently houses over 40 one-page pdfs that you can download and fold into little “books.” They are really more like works of art. I made a donation of $30 and donated the mega-pack of the entire collection in one zipped file. If you donate $10 you can print out your own library card and there is also a general $5 donation level. Funds collected from the Quarantine Library are being directed to EveryoneON, which is a non-profit that connects low-income families to affordable internet service and computers. That is a non-profit I can absolutely support!

7. Urzila (pronounced Ursila like ….) Carlson – this South African comedian who does “not identify as fat” is my new favorite funny person. Her show on Netflix called ‘Overqualified Loser‘ is a hoot. Some might say she overshares, but then, isn’t oversharing really a subjective thing? For myself, I’ve always felt that society needs to stop being so freaking uptight and talk more about stuff. If we didn’t try to hide things that are part of life like menopause and mensuration and puberty and various stages of aging we’d all be more informed, less ashamed, and people that needed might need help would get it.

Anyhoo, back to Urzila, come on, how could a menopausal broad not adore a female comedian who is a lesbian, has a South African accent, and who does not identify as fat? Pinch me!

8. This video of Billy Joel playing a discarded piano – no words necessary.

9. Crabtree & Evelyn La Source Hand Cream – I have been using this for years. In fact, a while back one of my staff told me that my office smelled like this cream and it always reminded her of me. Which made me happy. It’s a nice scent. When I went to look for a link for this I started to panic because as I typed “Crabtree & Evelyn” into Google up popped “Crabtree & Evelyn closing down” – EEK! It appears that the retailer hasn’t survived the online sales surge so it did shut down its brick & mortar stores. So sad. But it relaunched in the middle of last year as online only and so this product is still available. Though sadly it has been repackaged and is not available in the larger size that has a pump. Still, I may need to stock up just in case.

10. Henry Cavill building a Gaming PC – seriously there is nothing hotter than a guy working on electronics. Is anyone else watching ‘The Witcher?’ I’m REALLY looking forward to seeing him in the new ‘Enola Holmes‘ movie!

*This week there was just too many things so I upped it to TEN things but this is not going to be a standing thing (I don’t think.)

Have a LOVELY week!

Five Things I Love (5-4-2020)

1. A friend of mine shared this Coronavirus version of Bohemian Rhapsody on my Facebook page. It’s fantastic! Right after I graduated from college I lived in the most wonderful apartment on the east side of town. 17th floor, overlooking Lake Michigan. I could only able to do this because I had an awesome roommate who made it possible (he footed more than his fair share of the rent.) Anyway, we had a LOT of parties in that place, I mean, how could we not? On special occasions the two of us would do an air guitar rendition of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” In fact, it became our thang. Those were the days…. The friend who shared this link with me was a witness, I mean he attended those parties…

Not only are the lyrics clever but this guy’s voice is incredible! I hope Brian May has seen this and I believe Freddie Mercury would have loved it.

2. French Girl Fleur de Rose Facial Polish – I actually can’t take credit for having discovered this stuff. I read some time ago this was one of Emma Watson’s favorite products. There are only a few movie stars that I respect enough to care what they think, and she is definitely on that list. This facial polish makes my skin feel like it’s 25 years old again. I wouldn’t be without it, even made sure to take it with me to India. I’ve been buying it for a few years. In fact, when I first starting buying from French Girl she only had an Etsy shop.

3. The Great Realisation – this is absolutely brilliant. Why hindsight is 2020…

4. All these people gave a parade to a little girl suffering from cancer

A Milwaukee Fire Department ladder truck with mascot Sparky the Fire Dog drives past the home of 13-year old Jayla Christina Rodriguez on Thursday. 
MIKE DE SISTI / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL

5. Stream These – I watched a ton of new shows/movies this past weekend. So many excellent ones –

This Beautiful Fantastic (Amazon Prime) – a modern-day fairy tale and exactly what we all need right now. If you are a librarian it’s a must watch film, if you are a gardener, same thing.

The Half of it (Netflix) – the cast is exceptional, a teen rom-com with a LGBTQ and a multi-cultural twist. I already was a fan of Leah Lewis who plays the lead, Ellie Chu. Leah is George is the modern Nancy Drew series.

Never Have I Ever (Netflix) – this is the new Mindy Kaling series about a teenage Indo-American girl getting through high school and dealing with all the typical things that a modern, 21st century teenage American girls deals with, who also happens to have a mother who is a devoutly religious Hindu and very traditionally Indian and whose father has died prematurely from a heart attack.

Upload (Amazon Prime) – a lot of people/reviewers are comparing this show to ‘The Good Place’ and I can see how that could happen. It is, after all, about life after death. The big difference of course is that this is about an artificially created afterlife. I couldn’t stop watching, it’s not as funny as ‘The Good Place’ but I really liked the characters, particularly the main two people. You can see that like the people in ‘The Good Place’ these individuals are going to grow as the show goes along.

6. The Tart Adage from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – I’m a HUGE fan of Alice in Wonderland. I’ve been looking forward to seeing the V&A exhibition – Curious & Curiouser for nearly a year. Sadly I may not get to see it now. But in the mean time I found this video clip!!!

7. Did you hear? The Carol Burnett Show is coming back

“According to a news release, The Carol Burnett Show will be available for streaming on demand across Shout! Factory TV platforms, on ShoutFactoryTV.com; Shout! Factory TV’s Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, and Android apps; and on various Shout! Factory TV branded channels including Tubi, Amazon Prime Channels, and the Roku Channel.”