Tuesday, July 7, 2009

More stone necklaces!

Last summer I bought myself a vintage silver wrapped stone necklace, amethyst, agate, citrine, carnelian and whatever. The dangly clangy nature of this piece won many compliments and it therefore became the official summer necklace of 2008. I found a bracelet in all aquamarine with a similar look which I mixed with a sultry collection of silver bangles and I was good to go for the whole summer.

It was a good look then and it is a good look now, but I have the maximalist urge to have variations on the theme. Vintage is sort of out as this jangly look is pretty popular on ebay, Tias, and other antique sites, so I have been rooting around ebay and etsy for other pieces with color and movement and facets. After all if you are looking for quantity of looks at a reasonable price these are the places you go. Using the search "necklace stones sterling dangle" I browsed through hundreds of items on etsy without finding what I was looking for. There were some pretty necklaces to be sure but nothing with the "look" I want for this summer.

I did better on ebay.

Lately I have been noticing a virtual stone jewelry explosion and plenty of these pieces claim to be precious stones, meaning emeralds, rubies, or sapphires. I have seen these locally at craft stores and with price tags in the 250-600 dollar range. Not what I am looking for at all.

Ebay is a mixed bag always and no matter what the sellers say and no matter how fine their feedback is, it is a crap shoot. But in this case it was a cheap crap shoot. A seller from Delhi was offering many many dangly necklaces in a variety of stones. You could get citrines, amethysts, rubies, sapphires and yes, emerald (all said to be natural, read occluded and not Cartier quality) at a good price. I went for the emeralds. A very jangly emerald and sterling necklace with matching earrings became mine for about 45 dollars. I know I will not be tricked out like Catherine the Great but that is of no importance. The goal here is a swingy necklace for summer!

I would post a link but the seller has her name Kaya_Jewels posted on the pics so I dare not try it. But as soon as I get it in the mail you'll see what I did with my money!

New From Yves Rocher

I have no warmth for fragrance snobbery and love to find myself pleasantly surprised by a yummy cheapie scent. B&BW have some great deals, and Ava-Luxe is niche on a budget with some of the most scrumptious gourmands ever.

Now I'm going to chat a few about some rock bottom bargains from the land of haute parfumerie, France. There are bargains galore if you hunt online and if you get tres lucky at TJMaxx or Marshall's, but for consistent cheap fun I have turned to Yves Rocher, originally a mail order beauty emporium with a great website. I think of it as France's answer to Avon, a nice quality product, a versatile range of options and always something on sale.

The makeup and moisturizing options are pretty similar with points going to Avon for adopting more sophisticated formulas more quickly. Yves Rocher features natural oils and extraits, but if you want modern science Avon is the way to go.

I give a decisive TKO to YR when it comes to fragrances. Soliflores abound and they came out early with the ubiquitous tea scented eaux. They also offer a nice line of standards and always have and offer fun summer limited editions which are truly limited, so if you love them do stock up.

I started buying YR as a college girl (MSU 1970s) after I spied an introductory offer in a magazine. I bought a shampoo for redheads, some lipsticks and most importantly a bottle of Ispahan, a deep dark oriental fragrance that was unlike any of the woods and florals in my price range at the time. I was hooked back then on their natural chic and they were among the very first to employ the charm of nature. Sure there was Cornsilk makeup of the "An ear of corn gave its life so you could be beautiful", but nobody had the depth of the YR line. I have been a devotee ever since.

Anyway, back to the present. If you are on a budget or a shoe fanatic who just doesn't care to spend a lot of money on perfume, you can quench your thirst for fragrance at the Yves Rocher website AND have the added plus of not being able to sniff yourself all over town. Let the other females buy the latest CK or Escada summer flanker, you can laugh all the way to the bank by choosing good old Yves Rocher and can rub their "green" cred in your friends' faces too! What's not to love?

You also have options galore. Are you the soliflore type? Indulge in their gardenia, lilac, or lily offerings. If you want to crank it up a bit and choose a sultry floral Rose Absolue and Iris Noir are swankier, spicier florals that can be had cheaply with a discount or coupon. They also give you soli-fruits, if their is such a word, and their strawberry scent is second to none for realism. Yum. And it comes in a bdy lotion too. Double yum.

Hunt around and take a look at their Comme une Evidence, Neblina and Cocoon lines. Make it natural and try Naturelle. Go retro with Clea or the Ispahan reissue or do what I did and opt for the nouvelle summer scent Green Summer. I am really enjoying this one. Citrus galore, it is cool for the hot days and has enough floral presence to make you feel feminine too. The lasting power is just okay, but the bottle is 75ml and will last a long time. For twenty dollars, give it a whirl and they will also send you some fun freebies.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Pain

I read another blog today in which the blogger wrote about receiving discouraging comments from parents. She said she would have rather her parents said "You can do it" instead of "there's time to change"(career directions). I'm not 100% sure what it is she was trying to do, but it sounded like a teaching job, and you know, I bet she would be a great teacher.

There are a lot of challenging jobs out there. And not all of them pay spectacularly well or require some secret innate talent. Some just require a long adjustment period, before you feel totally comfortable, before you "hit your stride". Sometimes it takes a while to obtain that special sixth sense, a feeling that you instinctively know what to do, how to respond or what to say.

Take my job for instance. I am a psychiatric nurse. It is not glamorous but it is challenging and it takes years before you truly trust yourself to make correct decisions and even then you second guess yourself alot. The reality is that you can learn about medications and state laws and you can practice cognitive therapy techniques until you're blue in the face and it doesn't always work out.

The job is dangerous. Patients are frequently not ready to accept a diagnosis and they lie to your face. They are frustrating. But when it all comes together and you help someone dig themselves out of their state or understand the chronicity of their illness and learn to love their life anyway, the rewards are breathtaking.

The frustrating parts are real. And the danger is unpredictable, anything can happen.

I have learned not to complain because even at my age people say "It's not too late to change". Yes it is and I don't wanna.

So miss L, you'll get there and you'll thrive.

But you're wrong about something. When it comes to job hunting and networking sometimes luck has everything to do with it. And that's unpredictable too. What sort of "luck"? You never know. In my case when I applied to my dream job I thought it was futile. But I got in, in fact the HR person said "I really want you". I was elated, thinking that my qualifications and interests were key. They were not. It was my name. Seems she hired several other people with the same first name and they had worked out well, so she chose me. If my first name had been the same as somebody who quit before orientation had finished or who was fired for cause I would have never been hired. This was corroborated by others who had watched this trend over time. So luck matters, sometimes.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Two more cheap thrills from B&BW

Today I wended my way into the local Bath and Body Works to see what I could see and if anything struck my fancy among the new offerings. I tend to prefer their older scents and have not had much luck with the new pretties, but today I found two that were very enjoyable and more in keeping with their "classics".

Being fond of green scents, I was first I was drawn to Rainkissed Leaves. Just as the name suggests this one is leaves. The site says "watercress" supply the leaves in question but the effect is more outdoorsy than salady. I would hazard a guess that there are more leaves involved or maybe a generic "green note" and the site claims muguet (lily of the valley) and woods, but these are rather unobtrusive. A naturalist wonder, you'll smell like you spent the day pruning in the conservatory.

Next on the list is Butterfly Flower. The notes from the site are tea, tangerine, cyclamen, banana leaf , orchid, syringa , mimosa, coconut milk, and musk so I guess "fruity floral" springs to mind, but I did not really notice the tangerine or for that matter the coconut in Butterfly Flower. I did get a rush from this one. I am not able to discern which note was so startling to me but it reminded me of a flower I smelled long ago but hadn't smelled lately and I am assuming it is the cyclamen. My grandmother grew them and I remember them being lush and lovely but not sunny. I remember her removing caterpillars from the plants and I guess these did turn into butterflies! Butterfly food. Anyway a charming and old-fashioned pretty girl floral scent!

As always, both come in a full range of bath and body products. The Butterfly Flower is longer lasting than the Rainkissed Leaves and both can be had at a great sale price.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Weird and guilty pleasures


I love soda.

Whether you call it pop, soda, or choose to go back in time and use the archaic expression "phosphate" I will join you in one and pronounce them all bubbly and delicious! In fact, some of my oldest and favorite memories take place at a parlor that was called "Loud and Jackson's" that catered to not only ice cream enthusiasts but also carbonated beverage lovers like me. There you could order up the phosphate of your dreams: vanilla, cherry, lemon, lime, orange, pineapple, strawberry, grape, chocolate or any combination! You could even mix and match them with ice creams if you liked that sort of thing. Paradise.

Today our options are limited and quite frankly that annoys the heck out of me and I sit here sipping my Diet Sunkist longing for something else.

True, if you live in Michigan you can get Faygo in those wonderful strawberry, grape or key lime flavors, but I am stuck here in New Jersey where I can't even find a decent bottle of ginger ale, ok! There is no Vernor's in New Jersey and you can only get Faygo in orange or orange if you can find it at all and orange was never their strong suit. So there! Nehi is but a distant memory, too.

So I have to slake my thirst with colas, with diet-rite's smeasley collection of less bubbly flavors that do not tickle my nose, and hope for New Jerseyans to develop a broader definition of soda.

Sigh.

Suggestions welcome.

Cheap thrills of the smelly type

Few scents are more cost effective than B&BW's very delicious White Tea and Ginger or their Brown Sugar and Fig.

Both capitalize of the prominence of tea and fig notes in perfumery today and manage to smell rich and beautiful despite their cheapo cost. Brown Sugar and Fig captures the fig note wonderfully and adds brown sugar for a fun gourmand flair. White Tea and Ginger gives you the brewed tea chic of a Bvlgari or a L'Occitane for a small fraction of the big league price tag francais!

And if that was not enough, B&BW fragrances come in matching lotions, creams and shower gels, so what's not to love?

The lasting power of these body sprays is not too shabby either but at B&BW prices you can spritz all day and not break the bank or you can layer these sprays with the cream and lotions for smooth feeling and luscious smelling skin!

I love these fragrances!

Go on, perfume fans, give it a try. Outside of a few rarified circles nobody knows the difference anyway.

Perfume again..

My scent of the day is Lanvin's gorgeous gorgeous My Sin.

I need to use this more and savor the beauty of my collection.

I need to find joy wherever I can.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Media and political incest

Let us not to the marriage of true minds admit...disclosure. Sorry Shakespeare but impediments have vanished for a while now so disclusure of who's married to whom, who worked for whom and who's begat by whom seems a bigger issue today.

According to the online edition of Commenary, "You know those fawning little bios which the MSM runs? Well sometimes you learn the strangest things: “[UN Ambassador Susan] Rice is married to Canadian journalist Ian Cameron, executive producer of ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” Wait. The EP of a top Sunday show is married to a top Obama official? Shouldn’t this be disclosed on air, at least when they are discussing foreign policy?"

This made me laugh out loud as for years these sort of conflicts have run rampant among "unbiased" journalists with nary a discouraging word or a disclosure, a public disclosure.

Did you know that NBC's Andrea Mitchell is married to former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan?

Did you know that Chris Matthews was a top aide to Former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill?

Did you know that George Stephanopolis was a high ranking member of the Clinton administration?

Did you know that David Gregory (Tim Russert's replacement) is married to former Fannie Mae executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, Beth Wilkinson?

Did you know that Bill Moyer's was Lyndon Johnson's Press Secretary?

Did you know that Mika Brzezinski is the daughter of Carter's National Security advisor? And wife of James Hoffer of WABC?

Does the marriage of politics and "unbiased" media bother you at all? How do you speak "truth to power" when you depend on it for your next job or when you are married to it?

PRAVDA

Are you happy with Obama? Words speak louder than actions today.

I feel cheated. I believed that he would be a centrist and a fiscally responsible president, cutting wasteful spending and standing up for rsponsible citizens. He called for "responsibility" but has signed irresponsible spending bills full of abject nonsense and rewards society's most irresponsible citizens while handing their bills to those who work hard. He wants to protect our retirement savings while tanking the stock market where these savings are invested. He appointed tax cheats and lobbyists while decrying both.

By all means, Mr. President, help cut medical costs and help reduce government spending. Do what you said you'd do, be the man you promised to be.

Or barring that, just stop making promises. Please.

Yes, some Americans are desperate. But we are most deperate for truth. You give us Pravda.

Weep

Words speak louder than actions!! Pakistan hates terrorism, you know.

Is Zadari's recent proclamation about love of democracy and lack of support for terror true or is it like Obama's love for the free market and his promise NOT to raise taxes?

Zadari says education for girls is "mandatory" but allows Talibansters to close these schools. Sharia is cool too, and we know how Sharia treats women.

I use the Obama comparison because he supports an end to earmarks while allowing thousands of them to go unprotested. In fact, earmarks will just go under a new name "stimulus" allowing him to deny their existence in his spending bills. The media will cow tow. Obama sounded so good, so convincing, so baritony.

Yes today words speak louder than actions, you will be judged by your pretty phrases, your soaring rhetoric and your mastery of the teleprompter. To hell with what you actually DO.

I suspect Hugo Chavez, who just nationalized an American food processing plant, will soon pronounce his love for free enterprise and the media will gush.

Obama's manipulation of the media will be copied and refined.

Happy days are here again! (but not really).

PRAVDA

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB123612594791323985-lMyQjAxMDI5MzA2NDEwMjQ1Wj.html

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

The unbearable lite-ness of perfume snobbery.

I have followed perfume blogs and message boards for a while now and have been entranced by the bigger, better and more expensive "niche" industry. I have also noted how few women seem to be aware of these options and how fewer still plunk down their dollars for a $120 rose scent when a $50 one is still rosy.

When women have commented positively on my fragrance it is usually an affordable model as the pricey niche scents smell somewhat off putting and foreign to their noses. If I get a negative remark it is always a nouveau niche fragrance and it is usually deemed "weird". The one exception is Ava-Luxe. People LOVE Ava-Luxe.

Read the blogs though and you will soon start to believe that you are on the scrabby end of life if you do not know and wear Frederic Malle or Serge Lutens, or that you are rather inculte if you cannot wax philosophical about whichever new craze Aedes is pushing on Christopher Street.

This all leads me to wonder if these bloggers and posters have unlimited resources or if they do own these pricey couture scents at all! Anybody can write a fragrance review and claim they were magically "transported" to a French garden or a sultan's harem or an asian spice market. You don't really even have to own the scent! You don't even need to have smelled it!

Bonne Bell model circa 1970s...Honestly

Does anyone remember the Bonne Bell ads of the 70s with the young girl who turned out to be the daughter of the company's owner? There was something about those ads with Julie Bell that seemed so "honest", just like the skin that Ten-0-Six promised us.

First the Bells were pretty in your face with the nepotism, they took no pains to hide the fact. Pretty admirable really as they could have engaged in a subterfuge and a pseudonym. Good on Jess Bell.

Second, she was less modelly and more "like us" which pleased us teen consumers of that decade. She was not painfully thin or preposterously flawlessly beautiful and she always looked a bit tentative in the photos which just added to the charm. She was a reachable goal physically if not economically (my dad was never going to own a cosmetics firm). On the other hand of economics there was never any conscious glam, Julie never wore diamonds or Dior. In the "Let it be Honest" ad the beaded bracelet was plastic and easily attainable.

I googled around a bit for her and came up with no photos despite the fact that her son, Hunter Lydon, is a serious photographer. Grandma "Julie Sr" is there as is daughter Juliana who looks like a 21st century version of her mother. No mommy.
I was also sad to read that her life was touched by the tragedy of the loss of a child.

Hope you are well, Julie Bell, Jr. I couldn't look like Cheryl Tiegs but I could look like you and I will always be grateful for your ads. They made normal adolescence way more tolerable! All the best!

Saturday, February 28, 2009

No returns for buyer's remorse

No, I am not talking about misrepresented products. There is recourse for that. The Better Business Bureau, the customer service departments, the people at your credit card service department.

We need a better way of ridding ourselves of politicians who misrepresent themselves during campaigns. The type that claim to be anti-deficit on the stump and turn into budget busters after they are installed. Or maybe the type that say they will not stand for corruption during the campaign and appoint tax-cheats after the votes are counted. In other words, liars.

Yes we can kick the rascals out, but that takes too long. Rascals have a way of stacking the deck to maintain their power, silence their critics, and pad their wallets.

We should have an option of a 90 day return plan

I am so sick of....

"Stars". Is anyone else close to nausea at the self-congratulating actors and sundry celebs? Anybody else find the Academy Awards to be intellectual ipecac with these people assuming that somehow acting is a heroic feat?

I rarely go to the movies anymore. I just don't enjoy it when I know the main beneficiaries are swine in pearls.