Jun
2018

What I Wore: June 18-25, 2018

categories: style

The Artists

CF6D1BAB-BAC5-452B-8E8A-6B27935CB845

Of all the things in my closet, this Sarah Pacini dress comes closest to encapsulating my Artist style avatar. It’s so good. I didn’t even know the designer until I took it home (from Value Village, y’all know how I roll), but the fabric and the details had me convinced that it was something special. It’s 100% linen, with a soft shimmer to it. The cut skims the body without being too revealing; the draping around the neckline and hem is genius. It’s going to be tricky to pair with toppers once the weather is cooler, but I am game for some experimenting and in the meantime, I am going to enjoy the heck out of wearing it on its own (and be thankful for the heatwave).

Honourable mention in this outfit goes to the bag, which was also thrifted. It’s the Marc by Marc Jacobs Ukita style in a lovely pewter metallic colour; I have been wearing it non-stop. I’ve been getting really lazy about switching bags from day to day, especially since I often end up using my backpack for lugging things to work and back; I like having a purse that’s relatively small and that goes with everything. This fits the bill, and it was a whopping $20. Team Thrift 4 lyfe.

And I almost forgot these earrings! Inexcusable!

35323041-F19D-48ED-B2A5-74E36E90D036

Old Timer

579BC7EB-FA87-4314-8BC2-C42D2D6219B6

This Deletta top one of the oldest items in my wardrobe, and one of the first Anthro pieces I ever thrifted. I am still very fond of it, even though the print is a little too sweet for my current aesthetic. For that reason, I paired it with trousers I would never had thought to wear 3 or 4 years ago — give the outfit a little bit of edge. These COS trousers have a strong menswear vibe (dare I say, a little grandpa-esque?) which I really dig. It’s a simple outfit, but one that doesn’t feel boring. That’s the sweet spot, as they say.

Updating A Favourite

2AFCC97C-CE50-4DB7-8EE5-911E65582064

New trousers, new outfit and another excuse to show this Marni top on the blog. The colour of the pants is not quite the same shade of red as the top, but it’s close enough. I like to wear bright colours like these on a Monday because it *feels* like I’m making an effort and being optimistic, whereas my internal morning monologue goes something like this: Noooooooooooo! (Picture me clinging to my bed like Rose clung to that raft after the Titanic went down. Ain’t no room for Monday up in here, sorry!)

 


Jun
2018

Recent (Non-Fashion) Purchases

categories: Uncategorized

Hey, wanna hear about stuff I bought recently? If so, it’s your lucky day. If not, well … it’s not your lucky day, but it could be worse. I could be talking about knitting again. Ba-dum-tish! (Although, in the interests of full disclosure, there is a post on that very topic waiting in my draft folder. You have been warned.)

Amope Pedi Perfect Foot File

I loathe feet. Have I ever mentioned that before? I’m sure I have, because my loathing is strong and of long-standing. I include my own feet in that statement, so summers are a trial for me from that perspective. I do what I can with salon pedicures, but it never seems to be enough. Being too easily grossed out to try that whole Baby Foot business, I decided to go a more modest route with this Amope foot file [non-affiliate link]. It’s cheaper on Amazon than at Shoppers Drugmart, which is the extent of my consumer research into this product. It’s okay. It doesn’t work as well on heels as that blade thingie they use at the salon, but if used consistently, it does seem to keep my feet looking somewhat presentable between pedicures.

I thought I would be ingenious and use some of my (skincare) acids on my feet – skin is skin, and a little chemical exfoliation wouldn’t hurt, right? Well, it turns out that, no: the skin on my feet probably needs a more nuclear option (like the aforementioned Baby Foot) in order to see any results, because a little glycolic acid made no difference whatsoever. So now I just use Aquafor to try to keep my hooves as soft as reasonably possible.

L’Oreal Mythic Oil Huile Originale

This is basically fancy leave-in conditioner. I bought it at Shoppers on a whim, after remembering that my old hair stylist used it once on my hair, years ago. This would have been around the time of my second or third perm – remember those days? – when my hair was very dry; the oil, I seem to recall, made a big difference. Considering the current length of my hair and the fact that I don’t colour it (and barely style it), the Mythic Oil is probably overkill. But it’s nice and it does wonders as a detangler for my daughter’s waist-length, naturally wavy hair. I’ve also started using it as a leave-in conditioner for my son’s hair, which is very thick and wiry. A little goes a long way, so my current bottle (which was around $28CAD) should last the family a while.

Castor oil

I bought this after a bout of pink-eye forced me to ditch all my existing eye products, including my beloved EyEnvy serum. A friend told me that castor oil is good for stimulating hair growth and, well, it’s a lot cheaper than EyEnvy. I did use it on my eyelashes for a few days with no adverse effects, but then I chickened out and went back to the EyEnvy. Now, I’m using the castor oil mostly on my eyebrows and my hairline, in spots where I have some hair thinning. It’s only been about a month, so it’s too early to have a good sense of results (or lack thereof), but I think I’ve seen a little bit of improvement in my (patchy) eyebrows. Will keep you guys posted.

Stila Color Balm Lipstick

I found a couple of shades of this lip stuff at Winners for $8.99 and … well, I’m weak, you guys. After Rimmel discontinued my favourite lip crayons, I still haven’t found my replacement Holy Grail lip product. So I keep looking and succumbing to various temptations. The good news is that this Stila stuff in Raisin is the bomb. It’s a great reddish brown that nails the whole “my lips but better” thing. The finish is somewhere between shiny and matte, which is great for everyday, and it doesn’t dry out my lips. I am less fond of the Avery colour; it’s a sort of coral that doesn’t really work for my complexion, and it has that minty smell I dislike in lip products (which, oddly, the Raisin does not have). I’m not sure if these are still carried by Stila, but I like Raisin enough that I will probably investigate further once my current tube runs out; the regular retail price is likely to be too high for me, but we’ll see.


Jun
2018

What I Watched: Random Musings

categories: Trifles

This has been a hard week full of news that left me heartsick, over and over. Frivolous pastimes, like this blog, seem pointless in times like these — or, worse, a guilty luxury. And yet, these are also the small things that help to keep me going. I have never been more grateful that I have the privilege of distraction; that, by some lucky twist of fate, my immigrant parents sought a new life in a country that was not afraid to welcome us with open arms. I am not sure how much longer it will be feasible to maintain an apolitical space like this blog given the current climate; for now, I am going to embrace a little frivolity on this Friday morning and I hope you guys will join me in the same spirit.

As the title suggests, some random musings:

One

I recently fell down a My So-Called Life rabbit hole. Can you believe MSCL was on the air more than 20 years ago? It does not compute. I still, vividly, remember watching it; it was weirdly cathartic. I was roughly the same age as Angela Chase and vaguely resembled the actress playing her. My teenage life was far less eventful than Angela’s, but watching the show still somehow felt like watching my inner landscape blown up on a screen. There is just one thing I hated about it. The ending. I remember my teenage self being really mad at Angela for choosing Jordan effing Catalano over Brian. Which is weird, because in real life I was all about the Jordan Catalano types for a long time – far too long into my 20s even. Anyway, reading a bunch of retrospectives on the show and whatnot, I got to wondering: was I in the minority in wanting Angela to pick Brian? Was I wrong? I mean, I know I felt very strongly about my opinion at the time but I went on to make the exact same choice as Angela more times than I care to remember, so what was that all about? If you watched the show (then and/or later), let’s talk through this.

Two

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a clip of Stephen Colbert and Patrick Wilson singing the US national anthem at some kind of sports game. I don’t remember what kind of game, don’t ask; my priorities are different, okay? More importantly, my latent Patrick Wilson Problem has now flared up again. “Tall, captain of the football team who can sing” is only just below “dark-haired, broody Brit” on my list of Hot Guy Problems. See, also, Scott Michael Foster. The fact that Wilson, self-admittedly, resembles the Least Chris (the Pratt – are we going to fight about this?) is something I struggled with for a minute, but all that is behind us now. Anyway, the last time my Patrick Wilson Problem was in full effect, I didn’t have Netflix. Now, I do. And that is how I came to binge-watch Fargo, which is, in fact, the point of this entire aside. I know I am super late to this particular party, but that is one damn good show. I haven’t gotten into an episodic drama for a while, but this is the best thing I’ve seen since Hannibal last year. Season 2 may be impossible to top (Lou Solverson could just be my dream man), but I am watching season 1 now and it’s also really, really great. As a whole, the show reminds me of The Wire, with its interconnected story lines set in a common “universe” — and also, obviously, the quality of the writing and acting. The performances on Fargo are, across the board, phenomenal, and it’s making me realize how spoiled we are with TV shows these days; even supporting roles are filled by first caliber actors. Thank god for the Golden Age of TV because I’m at a stage where I’d much rather watch a show, on my own schedule and from the comfort of my own house, than trek to a movie theatre to gamble 2 hours of my life on something that may or may not ultimately satisfy.

Three

I have never seen Sleepless in Seattle. Is that a weird gap in my cultural knowledge as a late Gen-X white woman? The reason is that I mostly hate rom-coms, unless they happen to feature one of my Hot Guy Problems du jour. Anyway, I really enjoyed this Vulture article about Sleepless in Seattle’s second-banana male character played by the wonderful Bill Pullman. It brings up a great point about how kindness — in male romantic leads, but I would argue, also more generally in pop culture protagonists — is underappreciated. Think about how many popular characters would qualify as anti-heroes these days; most popular shows and movies are replete with examples. It’s novel and, frankly, refreshing to come across a protagonist who is straight up nice. I’m not talking about a Nice Guy here – because, ugh, we’ve seen enough of those lately; I mean a guy who is the (old) definition of nice: kind and humble, without being a fool or a patsy or a sanctimonious prick. I am sure that it’s not a coincidence that my hankering for a “nice” hero is surfacing at this precise moment, and I can only assume that I’m not the only one in this particular boat. We are currently an under-served demographic, so I hope someone in Hollywood is taking notes.

As a further side-bar to the side-bar, the article reminded me of how much I love reading new takes on the minor footnotes of pop culture. Like, the first time I realized how terrible Love Actually actually is? Amazing. I mean, I will still watch Love Actually every single time it comes on TV, but I loved that article so much.

Four

Celebrity gossip: indulge me for a moment. If you read the same websites I do, you may recall the roll-out of Brad Pitt’s “relationship” with Neri Oxman – the Amal Clooney of the architecture world, or something like that. It was a thing a couple months back. I stopped having strong opinions about Brad Pitt a long time ago, so if there was an interesting angle to the story, for me, it was Oxman’s; there was a little tidbit about how she had been dating a billionaire, and was now dealing with Brad Pitt and I remember thinking – damn, girl. Talk about living one’s best life: a successful, well-respected professional woman, with a billionaire and a famous actor vying for her attentions. (Why is no one making this movie, by the way? I have some casting ideas.) But that was then, and now there’s been an update. Apparently, she chose the billionaire; which, at first, I was totally prepared to understand. Brad Pitt has baggage, you know? And he doesn’t have billions. Also, he’s no Patrick Wilson. But then – plot twist! – I found out who the billionaire is. Are you ready for this? Bill-I’m-gonna-short-Herbalife-but-also-dump-billions-into-Valeant-Ackman. So, now I’m, like, maybe there’s a third option. Maybe Angela Neri should just ride off into the glorious sunset alone. Who’s with me?