Beauty Review: Pixi Primer Even Skin

this & that October 13, 2013 Comments: 2

 

I got a sample of this in my most recent Target beauty bag (I highly recommend following Target’s Facebook because they give out free beauty bags once a season – around 4 times a year – but they go quickly so the best way to get them is to get advance notification through the Facebook page). Pixi Beauty Primer No.1 Even Skin retails at an astounding $29.00 at Target/online.

The description says,”Truly luxurious skin illuminating face primer to correct uneven skintone, restore skin’s youthful glow and balance skin hydration. Packed with anti-aging Vitamin A and skin-protecting Vitamin E.”

Well – it certainly illuminates – a little too well. It gave my face a quite alarming glow, in fact, to the point that my skin looked almost oily. It went on easily and I was able to rub it into my skin, but it’s simply too bright – it gave my face an unnatural all-over pink flush, unlike any other primer I’ve ever tried. I have fair skin, but not extremely fair, so I can’t imagine what it would do to someone with pale skin. Having said that, it does give a glow, stayed on fairly well and didn’t dry out my skin, so if you have tanned or dark skin, I would recommend trying this – it may be exactly what you’re looking for. As for me, however, I’m going to stay far far away – and I recommend anyone with fair skin doing the same unless you want to look faintly intoxicated.

Verdict: Lose it.

Cups

design & style October 12, 2013 Leave a comment

goldleafsaucermug

Swedish home goods shop Fine has the most adorable cups ever, particularly this gold-leaf saucer set, which is a priceyy 89 pounds (but the site does offer free shipping). Also, if you’re like me, the title of this post brought this song to mind and you’ll be humming it for the next hour…

Vintage Perfume Ad: Funny of the Day

this & that October 11, 2013 Leave a comment

A Sea of Shoes posted this hilarious Bill Blass ad today and I had to pass it on.
Bill-Blass1

Design Love

design & style October 11, 2013 Leave a comment

How gorgeous is this leaf bowl from Hammer and Spear?leafbowl
And this vintage dough bowl?
vintagedoughbowlAnd finally, a stunning Moroccan chair via Coolhunting– at the Fellah hotel, a brass tribute to one of Arne Jacobsen’s iconic chairs

moroccan chair

 

Life in Color: The Cemetery Door

this & that October 11, 2013 Comments: 2

I love everything about this stunning door, which looks straight out of either Aladdin (and I bet you’re guessing it’s located in a Middle Eastern country, aren’t you?). But no – this is in Harrisburg Cemetery in Pennsylvania.

paintetdoorvia Starcat 

Design Envy

creativity, design & style October 10, 2013 Leave a comment

I went on a Storeenvy frenzy today (for those who don’t know it, it’s an Etsy-esque online retailer) and below are some favorites.

fabricballoonwalldecorStunningly colorful and delicate fabric rings for wall decor from The Papery Nook 

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This steampunk clock is kind of perfect (via)totorowoodbowlThese Totoro wood bowls are the most adorable thing ever (via eCozy Home)

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Who can say no this? (via Bubble and Geek)

Caffeinated Links: Andrew Davies and Steven Moffat Shenanigans, Toni Morrison

books poetry lit, film & television, this & that October 10, 2013 Leave a comment

sunflower

Flavorwire on why Toni Morrison is the most important living writer – “A handful of us care enough to groan whenever Jonathan Franzen says something about social media, but when Toni Morrison says something about a president, it’s monumental.” RT

Bong Joon Ho is furious about the Weinstein Company’s cuts to Snowpiercer. Guess which person my sympathies are with – the brilliant and revered foreign director or the grab-all money-grubbing film production company? RT

Joanna Robinson is right as always. This time about Agents of Shield.  “But the show should not, cannot rest on the shoulders of Skye and Ward. They are two of the blandest leads of all time. They are shiny-haired porridge. Heck, I don’t even mind if Skye’s weekly job is to dress cute and flirt her way through an op. But in order for that kind of premise to be remotely interesting, you need to have charisma. You need to be Sarah Walker or Sydney Bristow. Sydney Bristow she ain’t. And don’t even get me started on that swirling vortex of anti-charisma that is Agent Ward.” RT

Peter Davison, the 5th Doctor Who, says Steven Moffat is coming up with a way to get around the rule that states the Time Lord can only regenerate 12 times. Of course he is. RT

Andrew Davies said that he had meant for Firth to be naked in the hallowed Pride and Prejudice lake scene. “He added he had intended the scene to be one of “social embarrassment”, showing awkwardness between Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet.

“In fact it seems to have affected women in wife a different way,” he said. “And who am I to complain?” Indeed. RT

Poem for a son going off to college

books poetry lit October 9, 2013 Leave a comment

Looking at photographs of the kids. One of them is going
To college tomorrow. I used to wear that kid like a jacket.
He fell asleep instantly given the slightest chance. School,
The car, even once during a time-out at a basketball game,
Although to be fair he was the point guard and had played
The whole first half and been double-teamed. He could be
Laughing at something and you’d turn away to see a hawk
Or his lissome mom and when you turned back he was out.
But tomorrow he’s in the top bunk in a room far away. We
Will leave the back porch light on for him out of habit and
In the morning we will both notice that it’s still on and one
Of us will cry right into the coffee beans and the other will
Remember that it felt like all the poems we mean when we
Say words like dad and son and love when I slung that boy
Over one shoulder or another or carried him amidships like
A sack of rice or best of all dangling him by his feet so that
All the nickels he put in his pockets for just this eventuality
Poured down like something else we do not have words for.

-Brian Doyle, The Christian Century

Caffeinated Links: Women’s Journeys in Film, Tenenbaum, Kickstarter Novel

film & television, this & that October 8, 2013 Leave a comment

shoes_and_whiskey_by_browneyedgambit-d4wxpb8

Badass Digest on why women’s journeys in film are always different than men’s – “Socially speaking, we’ve been trained to believe that women are less prone to make mistakes, but there’s this tricky double standard in which we blame them for the ills that befall a man (if a marriage or relationship dissolves)” RT

Pajiba’s Courtney Enlow snark-destroys Chris Brown, and does it good. “And then he starts talking about his class about violence against women. Oh guys. He has some thoughts on it.” RT

Via The Rabbit Room, this looks like an unexpectedly lovely/worthy Kickstarter Project – “Almost ten years ago I put my three kids to bed, told Jamie for the millionth time about my desire to write a novel, and with her blessing dug out my sketch pad to draw the first map of Aerwiar. I turned off the television (this is key) and sat in the recliner with my high school art supplies, eager to tell a story. As with any adventure, had I known how much work and time it would have taken, I might not have had the guts to start. I drew the coastline of Skree on the left, then for some reason on the right I drew another coastline and named the continent Dang.” RT

Everything Tenenbaum. “On Tuesday, New York Magazine TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz will release his sumptuous coffee-table book, The Wes Anderson Collection. The book delves deeply into each of Anderson’s seven films, dissecting every angle and influence with commentary, illustrations, and photography. Every chapter is anchored by a lengthy conversation between Anderson and Seitz about the making of each film.” RT

Sea, Salt, Air

this & that October 8, 2013 Leave a comment

oceanunderwaterview