I saw this movie today, and it was surprisingly funny. I hadn’t particularly wanted to go, but I was glad I did.
The entire audience laughed a lot. There were only a few really dumb things, and one character I could have written out, but the main character is so delightful and watchable and innocently kind that she is a pleasure to watch. And she holds many lessons.
There are a couple of questionable things for very young children and some bad language, but not a lot. My girls would love it, at 10 and 12. I think they can handle it.
Shelley (Anna Farris is charming in the part and makes the movie) is living the life of her dreams at the Playboy Mansion. She feels the mansion has given her the home she never had before. (The movie begins with a short montage of her early childhood spent in an orphanage, until she finally found acceptance and a sense of family. This is not dwelt upon, but you might need to be aware of it.)
Hugh Hefner plays himself in several cameos in the movie. It’s good to see his health has improved. I hadn’t realized he was in it.
When Hugh goes off for a time, immediately after Shelley’s 27th birthday party, she is presented with a letter from him giving her 2 hours to leave the premises as she is now ‘too old.’ 27 is now evidently 59 in Bunny years.
How she finds herself the housemother of what likely began as Zeta (Zeta Tau Alpha) but morphed into a close cousin in name, is part of the poignancy and fun. The girls in the house need to pledge 30 girls in order not to lose their charter. How she turns them into a viable sorority is a delight.
There is a typical sorority bitch that has shown up in several movies. (And there is a Bunny bitch too.) In a way this movie is like a female version of Sydney White, but we liked it better. (The theater rated it 3 out of 5.)
It’s easy to imagine Elle Woods living this life. (Colin Hanks plays her love interest.)
She’s definitely a likeable bimbo, and you can’t help but root for her. Many scenes touched my heart.
As I wrote in my previous post, Aromaleigh has a wide variety of colors to choose from. If I were starting to look into minerals, I think I would look only here. I don’t think you could go wrong. Plus they have a forum, a gallery of photos (don’t let any of these scare you; the colors can be applied with any degree of subtlety, easily), and a blog by the founder.
I took advantage of their sample program and ordered a number of them. There is free shipping with any order that is only samples. The samples are packaged in small zip lock bags. It would be very easy to take these along on a trip instead of taking full size jars along. And you can fit a lot of colors into a small space.
Additionally, when I ordered, I was gifted with a few samples, including a bit of their lip balm, which is very nice, and with my second order a colored lipstick, which I haven’t tried yet.
I sampled two of their Glissade foundations: Ivory (1CL) and Alabaster (G-00). I made an educated guess by looking at their color chart and knowing I needed lighter than the lightest one in BE. I didn’t want anything too yellow or peachy. Neutral leaning toward pink is always a good choice for me.
Ivory is perfect, Alabaster was a little light, but perfect for mixing with minerals I already own that are too dark. For my second order, I ordered both in full size, I thought, but accidentally ordered Ghost (which is almost white.) I haven’t tried that one yet, but it might work well, again, lightening mineral foundations that are too dark.
Judging from my success, I believe you could take an educated guess with your own skin tone too.
There are several ways to buy their eye shadows — by color families or by types of shadow (matte or shimmer or glitter.) I ordered samples in a variety of colors and types, pretty much staying away from the totally matte. I use them dry as liner also. They also have a sealant, which I have not tried as I have another brand, which allows you to wet any shadow for liner.
They blend beautifully, probably better than BE.
I didn’t get a chance to look up the ones that other people had recommended until today, and then I realized that I had ordered only one of these, so in my next samples I will try a couple of them.
Other people recommended:
Circe, Brianna, Lilith (this is the one I tried and really liked), Arielle, Cossette (dusty rose with a hint of copper). Lola (icy, but subtle, gray that makes blue eyes pop). Ophelia. Sophie (cool basic shade that blends well with most any other color). Lorelei (lifts darker colors, giving a nice shine)…
With every order there is a sample of eye shadow called Le Mystere. It is a limited edition made up of left over minerals from mixing other colors. I’ve received Le Mystere #63 twice now, and it is a favorite. The only way to keep this is to use it sparingly, find someone who wants to part with theirs or perhaps you could buy a full size.
Here’s what I tried either because I chose them or they were included with my orders (3 samples came with each order):
Pinks: Pandora;
Greens: Nanette, Severina, Isadora, lilypad, basil (loved this one), jade, azure, drama queen;
Purples: Hydrangea (a beautiful light one for over all base), Isabella, Lillith, Penelope, verbena, orchid, desire, amethyst, lush memoir;
browns: Balsam;
glitter (Rocks): paranoia, ribbons, evil woman; pretty please, reverberation, disintegration
If you like neutrals, they have a wide selection of gray and heather toned colors as well as browns. Their browns are workable with my brown eyes, as their selection is wide enough that there are browns in the right tones. (Often browns are too yellow toned for me to wear. They just make me look blah.)
I find the glitters go over the whole eyelid after color and don’t look too glitzy. They are perfect. Even the brightest colors blend well, as do the darks.
Let me know if you have tried Aromaleigh and what shade, and let me know if you’re going to try. Really, you’ll be happy you did! Not only do I want to try more sample shades, but I also want several full size.
Do you like to wear mineral makeup? For the most part, I do not wear mineral foundation, I prefer a liquid. I don’t find the liquid mineral foundations to be as good in their color range, or any better, than a normal liquid foundation.
I started with Bare Essentials. They don’t have a good color match for my skin, so I pretty much only use their shadows or blush. I also like their all over face radiance in Clear. Their brushes are excellent. You can buy BE at stand-alone stores, in some Nordstroms, online at their website, and also in Sephora.
Recently I decided to try Aromaleigh on the basis of recommendations I’d seen online. Their products are excellent. They are as good, or better, than any I’ve tried with a very wide color range of shadows. They are beautiful on. They also have good sales and discount coupons that you can use with most orders, depending on the size. They have an excellent fact sheet. And they also have a sheet that matches BE colors of foundation to their own. I found a good color match to my skin, and I’m using it on my neck. I still prefer liquid foundation on my face. I also found a lighter color that I’ve mixed in successfully to some other colors of other brands that didn’t match, so perhaps I can use these up on my neck also. They have an excellent sample program. I will write more about the colors I tried in another post.
I’ve tried L’Oreal mineral makeup. They matched my skin better than BE, but not as well as Aromaleigh. Mixing it in with the lighter Aromaleigh, I think I can use it on my neck. I liked the idea of the brush in the top, but I thought it would filter through the brush vs. needing to dip the brush in product. The brush for their Illuminator is similar to the BE brush, but it is connected to the cap. I like some of their blush colors.
Jane has some mineral makeup. I’ve only tried a couple of shadows and blushes. I bought strictly on color.
Mary Kay recently came out with minerals. I think they are excellent. They are pressed, so they are easy to use and take with you, and they have a good color range. Their foundation was a better match for me than BE. I like their blushes and their shadows (I prefer the ones that shimmer.) I really like their highlighter (I use both the matte and the shimmer together.) They have a really nice bronzer, again matte and shimmer. I use the highlighter instead. Either the highlighter or the bronzer can be used on your eyes.
How about you, have you tried minerals and do you like them? As soon as I can, I will write up a review of the Aromaleigh colors that I’ve sampled.
This product is one I tried on the strength of others’ recommendations. I really love it!
Not only is it good for my skin, leaving it slightly moisturized but not oily, it leaves no tub ring. I have a chocolate brown tub, so that is really important for me. Plus, even the residual bubbles at the bottom leave no evidence when the tub dries. And the bubbles last through my whole bath.
And, to top it off, when it is not on sale it is only $7.99.
I’m glad someone shared this or I never would have tried it. I bought a scented one for my kids. I’ll let you know how they like it.
Karin
How well do you like Avon Bubble Bath for sensitive skin?
When it comes to facial treatment products, I find that I like to at least sample products that friends have led me to. If a friend recommends a product as accomplishing what it is hyped to do, I rely more on their judgment than an ad campaign.
How about you? Have you tried (or bought) something recommended to you by a RL or online friend? Did you find yourself more satisfied with it? (Or trying something you might never have found or tried on your own? There is such a plethora of products now, who can sort through them all?)
There’s something about it that makes me happy. Maybe there is even less buyer’s remorse or second guessing.
Since I was about at the end of a couple of products, I bought something completely new to me on the strength or recommendations. They are significantly less money than the products I have finished. I’ll let you know what I think of them after trying them for a couple of weeks or so.
What’s a woman to do when the newest high tech face creams are running several hundred dollars each? And how is one to choose one over another, if one is staving off the knife?
Honestly, are they all worth that kind of money? Chanel, La Prairie, Shiseido, Clea de Peau all have their moving-up-to-$500-each creams. Some need to be layered just to have enough moisture — what’s the use of that. And how does one compare an expensive cream by Chanel with a more expensive cream by Chanel sold only in a few select stores? or a Clea de Peau cream with another Clea de Peau cream? Do you think the SAs really know?
Are they old enough to have really given them a run for their money?
Well, the only fair way would be to use one on one side of one’s face and the other on the other. Then you could tell folks why you appear only half-rested.
Surely some of this is hype and some is reality and some is making you feel the more expensive, the better it works. But is it true?
Perhaps there are equally good things from other much less expensive drug store lines, all of which say they use their own labs to come up with new things. And maybe if the truth were known, the differences are in the packaging as the labs may be supplying to several lines owned by a parent company.
Believe it or not, it was Avon that changed some of the creams many years ago when they first brought in alpha-hydroxy. And theirs is still one of the best. They have one of the best facilities for research and development of any company.
So, what’s your favorite face cream? Do you think it works? Would you spend that kind of money on a face cream? or do you reserve that for shoes or handbags or perfumes or airline tickets? How many mega creams do you own and use? (or owned and used up)?
What’s your favorite recommendations?
How much of beauty is from within and how much from taking care of ourselves? (I have a couple of friends who are proud that they do nothing, and it shows. How much of that is laziness or frugality? Or not being able to see without one’s glasses?)
If I didn’t use something on my skin, it would hurt in a couple of days from dryness. That’s not a bad thing, when it has caused me to continue to take care of my face. But I sure don’t want to spend money for the proverbial Emperor’s new clothes. They ought to sell mini-jars so you could test them at home.
One of the things I like to do, though unconsciously, is people watch. Likely it is because I grew up in the fashion world, so I enjoy seeing what people wear and how they wear it. I am not critical, I am just looking with a critical eye to analyze, because I’ve been a buyer. At a young age I was buying not only for youth but for older men and women. I know too well the fleeting nature of fashion and of trying to stay ahead of the game to anticipate trends when shopping the markets to buy for the next season.
Stores in our area had a hard time sustaining themselves when they used northern buyers for our market. It just didn’t fly. Think hot, humid, and tropical and you would be right. What you’d wear in NYC or Chicago, you would likely not wear here. Also, the majority of us grew up somewhere else and came here for the space industry, so our fashion tends to be eclectic, but geared toward extreme heat.
The other day I was on a college campus with my 11 yo who had a function there. There were parents, as well as kids from 5th grade to 12th. Three college girls parted a swath amidst us. One was striking; one was average; one was OK. It was clear the striking one was leading the others and they deferred to her. They were an island to themselves. She was head of the pack, and she knew it. Confident. The rest of us of whatever age were invisible to them. I wondered what they would look like as parents. It was hard to imagine. But the day is coming whether they parent or not.
The next day I stood in a long line at the post office. Two young girls were in the front, one might have been an exchange student. One wore a dress; one wore shorts and a T. Both were modest and circumspect in their clothing. In front of me were two women older than I am. They both were invisible, in their demeanor and in their clothing. Behind me were women, invisible, looking hot and tired, none young. More or less patient in the line. I tried to imagine them the age of the young girls and failed. I tried to imagine what the young girls would look like at the age of these women or of me, or the ones behind me, how they might dress, and it was near impossible. I wondered what the hopes and dreams of the older women had been, and if they had achieved them. I wondered if the young girls would achieve theirs.
Next came me, fading into invisibility, maybe, wearing my uniform for the heat: shorts and a T. And don’t forget I wore a lot of bracelets before they came back in style. Or I set the style, LOL. I am fashionable, but not a fashion plate. And I’m recycling things I loved from years gone by.
It reminded me of Dylan Thomas:
Do not go gentle into that good night
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieve it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Or Robert Frost’s
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
I don’t think of myself as old, though to some I might be, and there are moments when I definitely look older than I would like to. I don’t intend to go quietly. I hope never to be invisible. I’ve got a long ways to go before I end up there. Maybe I’ll be like the 107 yo woman blogger and still be blogging. That would be something! But I hope it is an interesting ride. And she is clearly not invisible.
Someone I know once said to me that she couldn’t wait until she was old enough not to care what she looked like. How old is that, pray tell? I’ll never forget the striking much older woman on the arm of a younger man in Paris, her head scarf twisted into a flower by her ear. High heels and tasteful makeup. I have something to aim for, but skip the heels!
How about you? do you think of yourself as invisible, or do you know better?
Karin
Here it is in full:
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Poem lyrics of Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost.
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there’s some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Is it ever possible to have too many _____________? You fill in the blank.
I know we talk at POL about how many perfumes are enough already. The sky’s the limit with some things.
Yesterday I asked myself, is it ever possible to have too many eye creams?
Well, actually, no, if you use them all. I never seem to use them up as I have so many, plus I get them in gifts with purchase too. So that adds a few more to the mix…and I don’t worry about end dates. If they smell perfect and still work good and the consistency hasn’t changed, I keep using them.
Do they work? well, yes, I expect so, especially since I have dry skin, and always have had, but you couldn’t tell it, because, yep, I use eye cream(s.) And I have them in every price range and several companies, from Avon to Lancome to La Prairie or YSL and Estee Lauder — there’s even a good one by Olay which my daughter-in-law shared with me. I’m not sure if one works better than another, or if I just think they work better on any given day.
If I read or hear about a good one, I’ll see if there’s a way to sample it…and then it goes into the rotation. I pick one by what I feel I need that day. I try now to buy ones that have light diffusing elements in them.
I wouldn’t feel dressed without eye cream. And if I’m in Las Vegas, I carry some with me, because one application is not enough to cover/moisturize me for the day in such a dry climate.
Do you have a favorite? What is it that you couldn’t do without? Or is one enough for you…
