Tea Reviews: Caramel and Rum, Jasmine Mandarin, and Calcutta

coffee August 20, 2014 1 Comment

It’s a well-known little-known fact around these parts that I love tea.

Lupicia, which I believe started in Japan and how has branches in multiple countries (only a handful in the U.S.), is my favorite tea source; I am subscribed to their monthly mini tea magazine which also includes a sample from their latest collections. Three of these tea samples that I’ve tried are the Caramel and Rum, Jasmine Mandarin, and Calcutta.

caramel and rum tea

Caramel and Rum – now, you’d assume from the title of this that it would be divine. And it smells delicious, very like caramel. And perhaps it would please someone with a different palette than mine – but I like my tea bold and flavorful, and this is very, very sweet. It’s a roobios and I haven’t had any luck with roobios in the past, I find them far too rich. This tastes very much like weak eggnog, only of course not as satisfying because well, it’s not eggnog. I can’t say I recommend it. If you’re the sort of tea-drinker who loves to load up your tea with lots of sugar and cream, however, this may be exactly what you’re looking for.

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Beauty Review: Korres Wild Rose Brightening Sleeping Facial

this & that August 19, 2014 1 Comment

korres wild rose sleeping facial

This has slowly, over time, become my favorite face moisturizer, beating out Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream, which I used for two years. My skin is dry but also acne-prone, and I’ve found myself craving an intensely light moisturizer that was still strong enough to make my skin feel protected and moisturized. I tried ten or so over time and fell in love with this one the instant I used it.

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Ice Bucket Challenge: Nathan Fillion, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Pratt, Taylor Swift, Emma Stone, Selena Gomez, Justin Timberlake, more

this & that August 19, 2014 Comments: 2

Nathan Fillion

Tom Hiddleston

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Design Love: Wall Clocks

design & style August 19, 2014 Leave a comment

My discovery of the day is the Etsy shop All15Designs, which sells gorgeous, unique wall clocks with modern and mid-century modern designs.

Square Wall Clock (Rusted)

square wall clock rusted Puzzle wall clock

puzzle wall clock design unique clock

Outnumbered Wall Clock

rust modern midcentury wall clock

Illustration Love: Kenny Park

art & illustration August 18, 2014 Leave a comment

My discovery of the day is illustrator Kenny Park, who is signed with Shannon Associates who generally have pretty great taste in artists. There’s something so immediately compelling about his work, a touch of broody surrealism and a style of world-building that is simple but just strange enough to draw you in. His latest series is based on Hermes. kennyparkillustration

kennyparkbrood

illustrationsurreal

All images via Shannon Associates

Don’t Go Far Off

books poetry lit August 17, 2014 Leave a comment

Don’t go far off, not even for a day, because —
because — I don’t know how to say it: a day is long
and I will be waiting for you, as in an empty station
when the trains are parked off somewhere else, asleep.

Don’t leave me, even for an hour, because
then the little drops of anguish will all run together,
the smoke that roams looking for a home will drift
into me, choking my lost heart.

Oh, may your silhouette never dissolve on the beach;
may your eyelids never flutter into the empty distance.
Don’t leave me for a second, my dearest,

because in that moment you’ll have gone so far
I’ll wander mazily over all the earth, asking,
Will you come back? Will you leave me here, dying?

-Pablo Neruda

Book Review: The Elite by Kiera Cass

this & that August 17, 2014 Leave a comment

theeliteReading the Selection series is akin to watching Pretty Little Liars: you don’t know why you’re doing it, but somehow you can’t stop. The Elite is a very silly novel that replicates all the same weaknesses and limitations of the first novel, and yet is oddly entertaining despite that, mostly because there are bits of good romance.

America Singer lives in a future America dominated by a caste system. The government is not particularly oppressive, but the caste system is fixed, with every individual being born into a caste. Eights are the bottom, and do service work that no-one else wants to do; they are poor and often hungry. Ones are at the top, the wealthy, elite, and royalty. America is born into the creative caste, Five: musicians, singers, and entertainers. When her name is randomly chosen as one of 35 potential brides for the crown prince, she is ferried off the capital and a new life of glittering ballgowns and competing for the heart of the prince. 

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Illustration Love: Hug

art & illustration, books poetry lit August 16, 2014 Leave a comment

couplelove
“But now, my love, we are here, we are now, and those other times are running elsewhere.”

― A.S. Byatt, Possession

Makeup Review: theBalm Shadow and Blush

this & that August 16, 2014 Comments: 3

thebalm hot mama I’ve raved before about NARS’ Orgasm shade, which went from being a cult favorite to a staple in practically every grown woman’s beauty closet. And it is indeed the best blush essentially ever invented. But theBalm® cosmetics Hot Mama Shadow & Blush All-in-One is perhaps the second best, and can be used as a dupe for Orgasm with a little stretching. First of all, it glides on beautifully smoothly – a lot of blushes are either too thick, so you feel like you’re applying a mask to your face, or too powdery and fall everywhere. This glides on like honey and has good staying power; I generally still have a nice, light pink glow at the end of the day.

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The Last Ride Together – Robert Browning

art & illustration, books poetry lit August 15, 2014 Leave a comment

painter's honeymoon

The above painting has been a favorite since I first laid eyes on it as a kid – an incredibly tender portrait of a young married couple on their honeymoon, done by Sir Frederick Lord Leighton, an English pre-Raphaelite painter in the 19th century. The details are more vivid in a larger version, but I’m always struck but how delicately he holds her hand, and the attitude of complete trust with which she leans on him, every flow and line of her body and dress falling in to that movement.

I also always associated it with a favorite romantic poem – “The Last Ride Together” by Robert Browning. The old Victorian poets are still the masters of romance – this epic, delicate poem charged with love and longing is a childhood favorite – and it wasn’t until recently that I realized how appropriate it was that I’d always associated the intense tenderness of these two works (the painting and the poem) together, because there is in fact a connection – Leighton was commissioned by Robert Browning to design Elizabeth Browning’s gravestone.

In “The Last Ride Together,”  two lovers ride together before being parted.

I said–Then, dearest, since ’tis so,
Since now at length my fate I know,
Since nothing all my love avails,
Since all, my life seem’d meant for, fails,
Since this was written and needs must be–
My whole heart rises up to bless
Your name in pride and thankfulness!
Take back the hope you gave,–I claim
Only a memory of the same,
–And this beside, if you will not blame;
Your leave for one more last ride with me.

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