Science Fair for December 22nd - 28th

Oh man I have not been online at all this week, you guys. I've been away from work since Tuesday afternoon, and running around doing the family thing until last night.

But for the last Science Fair of '08, I have to have something for you, right?

- Not only is there a Burger King fragrance, there's now a Twilight fragrance. (I do love lavender and freesia separately, but together? And a Hot Topic perfume for $50?)

- The release of the final Princess Diaries book, Forever Princess, is coming up in a few weeks, and Meg Cabot has released the first eighty pages!

- This has been the Christmas of me singing Santa Baby over and over (and searching for it on YouTube to little avail), and unfortunately we lost Eartha Kitt on Christmas. I'm sure you've been seeing these all over, but here she is in "I Want to Be Evil" and "C'est Si Bon":




- Finally, it's the time of the year when everyone comes out with their Best and Worst lists. Here's the round-up of Entertainment Weekly's Best & Worst of 2008.

Have a great week!

Fair Trade Fashion

In today's clothing market, you'd be hard-pressed to find high-quality items for your wardrobe that aren't made in sweatshops overseas under torturous conditions, priced up hundreds of times more than the wages paid to manufacturers' workers, and ultimately design-homogenized for the mass market. Whenever I walk into a store, be it H&M, the Gap, a little hole-in-the-wall boutique, or even an online shop, I consider my options--do I really want to pay this price for a dress made out of plasticky material, probably made by someone half my age working sixteen hours a day?

I'm not really crushed by this sense of guilt or impending judgement, but it's always something to consider. What kind of clothes are worth my money? How can I maximize my dollar, when money is tight right now? I am entering a phase of my life now when the wear-twice-throw-away quality of H&M's otherwise stylish pieces are impractical. Being in a new job, though, I'm still not financially stable enough to do the kind of wardrobe basics restock a la Tim Gunn's Guide to Style (I love you, Tim Gunn!). Obviously, corporations running chain stores like J. Crew, Zara, Banana Republic, United Colors of Benetton, et cetera, have masterfully cornered this market and pretty much clothe every working man or women between the ages of 18 and 45 in America today. I've started looking for other options. Other, new, exciting, affordable, fair trade, environmentally and labor rights-responsible resources for a little wardrobe refresher.

First up is out of the UK, Adili.com organizes their collections by age cohort, but don't let that stop you exploring! Here's an example of my one problem with a lot of fair trade clothing...it's just too expensive for what it is. I understand the reasoning behind it, and I do love this dress by Kowhai:

This knit vest by People Tree has the librarian-chic whimsy of a piece you might see at Urban Outfitters. Isn't that cute? But for nearly US$400, I couldn't justify that kind of expense. I want to be fiscally AND morally responsible! (Tip: a quick and dirty way to approximate UK pounds sterling in US dollars is to simply multiply the UK pounds by two.) Adili's shoe collection is a fascinating mix of crunchy-granola burlap-and-string sandals and super-classy, chic high heels. Tempting, no?

Also in the UK (why do they have all the best shopping? OH JEALOUSY) is Fashion-Conscience, where you can shop by your pet cause: organic, fair trade, sustainable, recycled, or vegan. These Amelia two-tone brogues are super-classy.
As someone whose wardrobe consists of a very basic palette and a ska fan, I have a deep love of two-toned shoes. The race-car red! The office-appropriate heel!

If you want a Nike alternative, the Autonomie Project has the spitting image of Converse low-top sneakers that are close to the same price as the "real" thing. In fact, Equita's whole "outlet" sale section has a great variety of bags, tops, and jackets for you and yours!

As you've probably seen recently in the mainstream chain stores, "organic" natural fabrics are a new, huge profit area. I think the fair trade movement is ready to move into the mainstream as well, as consumers become thriftier and try to shop with a conscience. We want our dollars to stretch further, and give our consumerism significance for the rest of the world. Don't you agree? I can't say that I will always buy fair trade, organic, or green, but I can try!


Images from Adili.com and Fashion-Conscience.com.

Holiday Gift Guide: Last Minute Gifts and Stocking Stuffers

So last year Kati did the last-minute gift guide post... on December 19th. This year, you truly get it at the last minute -- December 23rd. Oops?

Usually I'm the one tearing around Borders on Christmas Eve ("omg, Mom really loved this movie in the 70s and I think we rented it once, so I'm going to BUY IT ON DVD HOORAY MOM IS DONE"), so I am well-aware that sometimes we need a little extra help at the last minute. So, you know, I'm ducking under the wire here too!

- We all know that gift cards are a very safe bet, especially ones that allow you the ability to send online. There's the classic Amazon.com gift card, the iTunes gift card, Shopbop, Zappos, or Shanalogic.

- I also always enjoy getting magazine subscriptions, since I almost never bother to subscribe to anything myself (I let my Nylon and my V subscriptions run out), and so this is one we suggest every year.

- If you find yourself lost in the wilds of Target today or tomorrow, check out the cute bath products from Soap and Glory. There's also the Sonia Kashuk tools, which I have a couple of and liked -- another Sonia Kashuk brush fan is Karen of Makeup and Beauty Blog.

- For a cute little stocking stuffer that you can likely find at your local drugstore, check out the Sally Hansen gift sets featured at All Lacquered Up, complete with swatches! Both the Holiday and the Deep set are great little mini-collections.

- Stuck at the office up to the last minute, but you've got access to PayPal, cardstock, and a printer? Check out some of the adorable printable PDF calendars and stationery on Etsy! There are some wonderful designs at littlebrownpen.etsy.com, upup.etsy.com, and marialunate.etsy.com. Just order, wait for the seller to email you the file, print, and done! What a fabulous idea -- and you don't have to wait (or pay!) for shipping!

- Finally, why not work a little DIY beauty magic in the kitchen? It's easy to put together a brown sugar scrub or scented bath salts. Besides, you're going to be running to the grocery store at the last minute anyway, right?

I lucked out in pretty much finishing my shopping early this year (and by early I mean "today after work", so actually I'm not done at all), but I know how it goes. So if you're out there, braving the crowds and wondering what the heck you should get for that last person (or, uh, dog in my case) on your list, I salute you. Good luck to you, my friend!

images from store.apple.com and littlebrownpen.etsy.com

SCIENCE! Says: A new feature!

Here at the Periodic Elements of Style, we've decided to gift you all with an early holiday season present: a new blog feature! It's called, "SCIENCE! Says"; in which we answer your questions and hand out free advice, all based on what we know from...you guessed it...SCIENCE! Because really, if SCIENCE! didn't know what was up, where would we be?

Question: I am a proud, card-carrying carnivore. What with this recent "economic downturn," I'm hearing more and more that our dietary habits are going to have to change. Anthony Bourdain, Time Magazine, and my grandmother all say I should start eating offal, because it's cheap/delicious. What do you think? Are animal organs better than chunks of charred muscle?

SCIENCE! Says: Don't switch to eating organ meats exclusively, cheap though they may be. The reason you see offal fans come out of the woodwork in lean times is the relative low, low price butchers and mass-market meat producers ask for those less-desirable cuts of meat. Today, most Mega-Mart butchers won't even have offal out in their refrigerated display cases. In anthropological terms, as we industrialized, American culture cultivated a high premium for cuts of meat further away from the potentially bacteria- and parasite-laden internal organ system of livestock. The richer you are, the better cuts of meat you can afford, thus your grocery list becomes a symbol of your economic and nutritional health. That has perversely reversed itself in the past few years as the Yuppification of America continues, and self-branded "gourmands" turn to offal for a rush of culinary adventure.

You may not be able to afford to eat t-bone steaks and pork chops every day now, but a good dose of properly cooked liver'n'onions never killed anybody. Just remember that organs like the liver, kidneys, and various glands in animals function the same as in humans--they filter out toxins. In sick animals as in humans, toxins and nasties can accumulate in the organs and lymphatic system. You can avoid over-exposure to toxins by avoiding those organs in general. Some types of offal do contain higher amounts of nutrients like potassium, but check out how much more cholesterol a 4oz serving of beef brains has compared to regular lean ground beef! (751% of your daily value versus 29%, that's seven and a half TIMES your daily allotted amount of cholesterol!)

If you're talking about calves' brains and oxtail, I will point you to the risk of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, aka "Mad Cow," a prion disease that emerged a decade ago in Europe to the great consternation and near-ruin of the livestock industry. Avoid mystery meats if you can because of this--cheap sausage, ground meats with abnormal coloring, and products like SPAM contain the odds and ends, including ground-up bone, of animals you should really stay away from.

It may save your wallet a couple of pennies, but you could prevent serious health problems by sticking to what you know. Anthony Bourdain may have survived decades of drinking, smoking, and offal, but remember: he gets paid to eat it.


Note: If you would like to have a question answered in SCIENCE! Says, please e-mail us at periodicstyle [AT] gmail [DOT] com. We love a challenge, so bring it on!

Science Fair for December 7th-14th

Things are really speeding up now that we're in the last three weeks of 2008. I cannot BELIEVE how quickly this year has flown by, wasn't it just 2004? 2009 sounds like a made-up year, like when you were little and heard about people who were 38 year old. 2009 sounds so far away that we might not see it, but hey, now we're already in our twenties and it's the end of 2008! The future has arrived, and I like the look of it. We have a collective feeling that 2009 is going to be totally awesome, though. We're going to take ownership of the whole year, kick its ass, and generally show it a good time.

-Nature asks, Which periodic element do you want for Christmas? Looking at our table of elements above, I'd like a nicely decorated home of my own and maybe some food-related items. From the actual table of elements, I'd want some plutonium for kitsch's sake. Radioactive elements FTW! Sorry, Marie Curie.

-If you're like me, you love all those "The First 48," "Mystery Diagnosis," "I Died for Fifteen Seconds and Came Back to Life" kinds of documentary TV shows. I have a literally morbid curiosity for how people die, just so I can file away that method for my own reference. It's very useful sometimes. My boss went to Disneyland for Thanksgiving vacation and related to me her experience on the roller coasters, I was able to pipe in with a cheery, "People die on those!" Weird? Maybe. The link above is to GIDEON's statistical analysis of Very Important Patients, defined as those individuals who are "well recognized by the public at large." I'm sure you can fill out the list for 2008 in your mind already.

-My favorite part of CSI and its ilk is when they use their lasers and soft, squooshy dummies to re-create shoot-outs. Check out how real-life crime scene investigators at the FBI do it. (There must be a t-shirt for sale at the FBI training facility store at Quantico that says, "FBI Special Agents do it across state lines" or something. I'll think of a better joke someday.) Right now, I'm reading Stolen Masterpiece Tracker, a retired FBI Special Agent's memoir of his career working cases of major art theft. Fascinating--the real Thomas Crowne wannabes don't all look like Pierce Brosnan, or Steve McQueen for that matter.

-Everyone loves a bit of Bond in the morning. I have a sneaking suspicion that if one wore a t-shirt emblazoned with, "Everyone loves a Bond girl," you would get hit on more than a pinata at a Little League party. Racialicious has something to satisfy your cerebral need for Bond, all about the political underpinnings of our favorite double-0. Don't ever change from your wonderfully action-packed timeliness, 007 franchise!

-For your regularly scheduled vintage enjoyment, check out this Flickr stream of vintage magazine covers. The old sci-fi pulp mags are THE BEST, "California is DOOMED!". The stream also has vintage Vogue shoots and covers that are absolutely breathtaking.

-If you're in a bit of a DIY mood, as many of us are this holiday season, check out all of the delightful how-to guides on Curbly.com. I especially love the bird mobile. It's a great way to burn right through the pile of scraps sitting around in boxes and bags! I have a pile of interior fabric samples for various craft projects I never finish, now if only I could find that power cord to the sewing machine...

-This week, we've been suffering from Mad Men withdrawal something terrible. Seeing Anne Dudek on reruns of House and SVU makes me nostalgic for those days we experienced the sheer voyeurism of watching January Jones and Anne Dudek smoke and drink in the Draper family kitchen. Still, the fashion frenzy over Man Men continues, we love Sprig's photo array of 10 Ways to Look Like You Just Stepped Off the Set of Mad Men. Step 1: shop vintage?

Have a great week, everyone!

Holiday Gift Guide: Bath and Beauty

Jeanne:

It's always kind of hard to buy beauty products for other people, especially since both colors and fragrances are really personal. And when you get more than two sets of scented bath products from separate people, it's almost like they're trying to give you a hint to go take a bath or something... So no hints, just good stuff!

Plus, you know, you can always take a look at our Beauty category or see what we've got up at Periodic Beauty Reviews for more ideas...

- I know I said you only need three nail polishes, but if you feel the need to truly bestow the gift of polishes, Rescue Beauty is selling a nail polish library. 47 colors. $750. On the plus side, you will never ever need a new nail polish again, right?

- I received a Dermalogica Ultimate Buffing Cloth from Fashion Week, and it's been in my shower ever since I moved. Stuff it in a stocking along with a Philosophy shower gel and you're golden.

- I bought myself the Korres Vanilla Plum Collection Set after my last trip to Sephora University; the plum lip butter is really pretty (even if I have to put my fingers in the pot, sigh!) and I'm still digging the scent.

- Earlier this year, Bliss and Sephora had a competition between three scents to determine which would be the next Bliss scent. I actually went into my Sephora purposefully to vote, and I'm pleased that my choice, Blood Orange and White Pepper, was the winner! You can pick up the Big Orange set at Sephora for some citrus-y goodness in a gift set.

- Karen and I stopped into the Fresh cosmetics boutique on the border of Chinatown this past weekend, and the sweet sales associate showed us their various gift offerings. At the boutique you can put together your own soap trios, while they offer two online: Trio One, with Hesperides, Patchouli, and Linden, and Trio Two, with Freesia, Verbana, and Vanilla. They also had a really nice-smelling set of Christmas soaps in Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh, which it looks like they only carry in the boutiques or at Neiman Marcus.

- Finally, if you really aren't sure what to get, you can't go wrong with a Sephora gift card or a gift certificate for a massage or facial at a local spa. Because honestly, yes, whoever it is you're buying for, they probably need a massage. I know I do!

Kati:

- Figgy Pudding gift set from Product Body. I love their stuff and I like that they're offering special stuff that you can only get in the gift set.

- As always, Lush has a bunch of specials for the Holiday, and Candy Cane Bubble Bar is my pick to try this year.

- I'm a little biased on this one, because I'd love a bottle of OPI in my stocking this year... in fact, I just bought half of the holiday collection--I'm especially loving all the metallics for gifting.

image from rescuebeauty.com

Holiday Gift Guide: For the Dudes

Jeanne:

I have my dad and my brother, and until recently, I had to buy boyfriend (or we-broke-up-but-you're-still-pretty-much-my-boyfriend-so-you-get-a-present) presents. But not this year! I am actually kind of relieved by it, and have decided I'm going to hold off until 2009 because then I don't have to buy another guy present. (It's kind of like the opposite of the Margaret Cho bit about breaking up: "There's never a good time to break up. You just bought concert tickets. A war broke out. You want your birthday present first." Except for me right now, it's: "No, sorry, I can't date you, I don't want to have to buy you a present.")

Last year also added a complication in that I was supporting the WGA strike and didn't buy any DVDs. Well, since they settled the strike, I feel I can recommend DVDs to you this year now!

- BUT FIRST: books. I've already purchased my brother's gift, the delightful John Hodgman's newest book, More Information Than You Require, the sequel to his hilarious first book, The Areas Of My Expertise (which he will also be receiving). The Areas of My Expertise audiobook is amazing and features the wonderful and adorable Jonathan Coulton, whose music is also a good gift choice. I wrote about them both last December, and I am still a fan. (You can also follow them on Twitter, which I highly recommend -- @hodgman and @jonathancoulton.) ALSO: that is all.

- I was among those who were pretty dang peeved when Fox cancelled Futurama. And then when Fox restarted Family Guy after Family Guy's popularity soared on Cartoon Network, I was one of the people shouting, "AND WHAT ABOUT FUTURAMA YOU GUYS C'MON." So when they announced that Futurama's "back, baby!" at San Diego Comic-Con in 2007, I was (and remain!) thrilled. The deal is for four straight-to-DVD movies that will be cut up into four new episodes each, so sixteen new episodes of Futurama made out of four movies. Three of them are already out: Bender's Big Score, The Beast With A Billion Backs, and the newest, Bender's Game. Hooray, Futurama!

- Now that the strike's over, I have been buying a lot of DVDs. And I tend to be pretty generous with letting people borrow them. Unfortunately, some of the guys in my life have kidnapped some of them. Luckily, two are with my brother, and I know where he lives, but the other... may be gone forever. I know that I can get my copies of Freaks and Geeks and the first season of Flight of the Conchords back at any time from my brother, but he's holding on to them for me right now. Tragically, I am probably never going to get the complete series of Arrested Development back. That one is a heartbreaker, and has been killing me since the break-up. Keeping a girl from her GOB Bluth? That's just cruel. COME ON.

- If I were to buy something for someone this year, I would most likely get him the Amazon exclusive DVD of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. It was a side project for Joss Whedon (hooray!), Neil Patrick Harris (hooray!!) and Nathan Fillion (hooray again!) during the writer's strike, and originally was all online. Now you can have it in a DVD! Also, we are in full support of blogs, even if they are run by mad scientists who have unrequited crushes on the girl at the laundromat. Seriously, this is worth buying and having for yourself, not just as a gift. And! It's on pre-order now for only ten bucks. Yay!

- Finally, I have two words for you: Soap Stache. Yes, it is soap in the shape of a mustache. dennisanderson.etsy.com sells Soap Stache and many other wonderful soaps that everyone can enjoy, including beer soaps (!!), so you can pick your (or his) favorite brew. (Blue Moon, anyone? Or maybe you're more of a Guinness or Sierra Nevada drinker...) I have found that boys do like soaps and skincare and cologne if you buy it for them. So don't be afraid to do so. (Sephora can help with the cologne-finding, too.)


Karen:
Like Jeanne, I've just got my dad and my brother to gift this year. At my house, we have a very, very low-key Christmas because we do a bang-up job on New Year's in the grand ol' Japanese fashion. (Sukiyaki this year! Yes!!) Every other year, my brother and his wife come out to California to celebrate Christmas with us. This year, it's no big brother, and I already know what Dad's getting, so it's very simple:

-I've composed a Mad Men-themed stack of goodies, including the Mad Men Season 1 DVD set, Meditations in an Emergency, and to put a personal spin on it, a great bottle of sake. Apparently my grandfather drank rye a la Don Draper, so that's another option for your liquor-connoisseur father figure. Is that weird, to give your tee-totaling father alcohol for Christmas?

-I actually take after my father in several ways besides our shared lantern-shaped jaw. Both of us will be chained to our office desks when the rest of our respective companies have forced shut-down over the holidays. Fortunately, I have the solution to office doldrums, and it's these totally sweet Origami Post-It Notes. What better time to perfect your nimble paper-folding skillz than when it's quiet?

-Gifts that hark back to a family tradition are great for dads, who want to always think of their daughters as their little girls. My dad and I always loved listening to Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion on weekends together. Probably because we are mysteriously drawn to stories of Americana, it seems foreign and familiar at the same time. NPR.org has a specially-recorded session of songs by Garrison Keillor and his Guy's All-Star Shoe Band: When I Get Home.

-For the well-seasoned traveller in your life, Bedol has an amazing eco-friendly, water-powered clock. Isn't that great? Personally, I hate scrounging around for batteries for a travel clock when I'm traveling, so ta-da! I imagine a guy being endlessly captivated by this kind of wee device.

-In a perfect world, we'd have these hot, new technological marvels on the market for our male comrades to ogle and enjoy. The pod-dining-set looks like interior design FROM THE FUTUUUURE. I love it!

Have a happy holiday season, everyone, we'll be back soon we another gift guide for you!

image from periodicstyle.blogspot.com

Science Fair for November 30th - December 7th

Happy December, everyone! It's the last month of 2008 and I am pretty much ready for '08 to go!

- We do have more gift guides in the works (really! we do! we promise!), but just in case you're still looking for more (like for babies or pets, who we're not covering this year), Jamie has you covered with the gift guides at Oh How Lovely Shops. In addition, she's having a big holiday giveaway!

- In other giveaway news, Sephora is granting a Beauty Insider's holiday wish -- one item, valued up to $300! (I asked Sephora-Santa for a no!no!, but would totally be happy with a Clarisonic face brush, too.)

- The San Francisco Ballet's new (2004) production of the Nutcracker will be shown nationwide on PBS's Great Performances at 8 pm on December 17th. It takes place in San Francisco in 1915, the year of the World Fair. If you can't watch it on the 17th, it's also available on DVD. This is the production that got me back into ballet classes for my senior year of college.

- Karen and I went out for drinks on Friday night and spotted a beautiful crystal tie necklace on one of the waitresses, which instantly made me think of Jill's faux tie post on Trend de la Creme. I then talked about TDLC and caterpillars and Karen said, "I have no idea what you're talking about". So, Karen, this is what I meant.

- I am not a big hair person (I mean this in the "hair is not really my thing" sense, not "I don't have big hair", but I don't really have big hair, either), but if you haven't seen Hair Thursday, where women can submit their hairstyles and get suggestions on What to Do With It, it's pretty neat! I'm sticking with my style for now (although the platinum is on its way out), but if you're thinking of doing something new in the new year, you should check it out!

- UPDATED: Every year the Macy's in Union Square hosts puppies and kitties from the San Francisco SPCA in their storefront windows, and this year there's a live webcam! They are adorable and they all need homes. Support your local shelters and rescues!

Have a great week!

Sleep and the City

Everyone wants to know how things are going in the new apartment, right? Yes! You do!

So it's a great location -- right off a main street, so when I walk to the train in the morning or walk home from the train at night, there are always cars and streetcars and people around. We're tucked away in the back, so we're not on that main street, but we are right by an onramp onto a busy bridge that, um, is under construction. And will be until January.

It also gets a lot of sun in the mornings, which makes it totally adorable on the weekend because that's the only time I spend mornings in my apartment. (This was also an excuse I gave to my grandma over Thanksgiving weekend -- "Oh no, no, you should see my apartment tomorrow morning because it's so much prettier in the morning." Then I hustled home and cleaned.) My bedroom window faces east, so I definitely get some morning sun, especially now that we've had Daylight Savings going and I don't have to get up and walk in the sunrise hours.

And then there's the part about apartment living that we all love: the neighbors. My first apartment in college, we had an upstairs neighbor who probably wore concrete shoes around the house. Just 'cause. And in my second apartment, I shared a wall with a guy whose alarm, without fail, went off ten to fifteen minutes before mine. And by alarm, I mean iTunes. And his morning routine was to crank that baby up and sing along with it, off-key, in the shower. Again, ten minutes before my alarm.

This time, it's even better: I share a wall with a two-year-old who can't sleep through the night yet. Awe.some. for. real.

So obviously I am thinking I might need some help. Some ridiculously cute help.

- This rainbow seersucker sleep mask from miandai.etsy.com is so darling and stripey, I love it.
- There are a ton of awesome sleep masks at BibBon.etsy.com, including superhero ones and pirate ones. Fun! (Also, how much do I need A BAT TOWEL? SO MUCH YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW.)
- Of course, there's always the classic Holly Golightly sleep mask from Fred Flare for all you very stylish girls out there.
- Speaking of Miss Holly, I was trying to google fancy ear plugs and I thought, "hmm, haven't I seen them with tassels?" And sure enough, it was Holly again who wore blue tasseled earplugs along with her mask. There are some other lovely choices available at the JenGen ear plugs shop, including jeweled (pretty!!) and butterflies. (These might also be a good present for all of your show-going or DJ friends...)

Me, I've been trying to get to bed earlier and when I hear that toddler starting to wail on the other side of the wall, I've been sticking my head under my pillow. They did warn me, though, and asked me if I had ear plugs. I said yes, but I didn't. Maybe I should fix that...

Got any hilarious apartment-living stories? I'd love to hear 'em. (Tonight's adventure? The washing machine oversudsing. AWESOME.)

images from fredflare.com and earplugs.ecrater.com

Thanksgiving Alternatives

I've always had a rather, well, strained relationship with turkey. Sure, I'll eat it roasted and sliced on bread with some mayo, just as long as someone else has done that roasting and slicing. Maybe it's my genetic predisposition to obsessive-compulsive disorder, but I just cannot abide by the thought of that much turkey carcass in my kitchen, covering everything it (and I) touch with salmonella.

We've tried other proteins. A whole salmon. Guinea hens. Tofurkey at my aunt's house (awful! Just awful.). Dinner out, at the Left Bank Brasserie. I've made two pumpkin pies for a family of five, one "regular" and one low-fat, whole-wheat, less-sweet version that burned black in the oven and tasted like nothing. Every year for the past four, I've yelled, cursed, cried, and fought with family members who take a hands-off approach to the kitchen and then try to micromanage our Thanksgiving.

This year is going to be different. No burned fingers, no last-minute runs to Safeway for whipped cream, no pre-made gravy mixes. Most important of all: NO TURKEY. I have officially declared a moratorium on whole turkeys. There will be nonesuch fowls sitting around raw or cooked in my house, thank you!

So, of course, I have had to devise an alternate plan for the family meal. Our shared cuisine is usually Japanese, truth be told, but I can't even hold a candle to my grandmother's cooking, and she has put the kabosh on cooking for over four people. My mother couldn't cook an appetizing meal to save her life (sorry, Mom, you know I love you), let alone figure out portions for six. This is where I come in. I'm taking the best hints I've learned from Grandma, the Food Network, and the piles upon piles of cookbooks and blogs I read to help me out on this most stressful of food-related holidays. Below is my planned menu, and a few ideas for your last-minute meal!

Roasted beet salad with goat cheese: I got three beets (two red, one golden) the size of my head at the weekend farmers' market, and I am determined to convince my family that beets are much, much more than the canned kind. The beets will be wrapped in foil, roasted at 400 degrees for an hour, and allowed to cool overnight before being cut into wedges and tossed into a salad of greens with goat cheese.

Garlic-rosemary new potatoes: The very thought of mashing potatoes to a smooth, creamy texture makes me angry. I love a crispy-skinned, smooth, garlicky potato that hasn't been adulterated with cream and butter. Tyler Florence's recipe is so easy and consistent, you can do it with your eyes closed. If potatoes don't offer up enough carbs for everyone, I'm serving dinner rolls on the side--store bought.

Pot roast with whole mushrooms and onion: I have never actually made a pot roast before. My grandmother, Alton Brown, and Gourmet Magazine all tell me it's pretty easy. I plan on adding whole mushrooms and a couple of roughly chopped onions to the pan when there's an hour left to go, just to up the deliciousness factor. Is cornstarch enough to make gravy out of the resultant liquid?

Green beans dressed in lemon juice, olive oil, and grain mustard: This is another farmers' market find, there is a bag of piles and piles of fresh, snappy green beans sitting in my crisper drawer, dying to get out. They're just going to be blanched quickly in boiling water and tossed with a quick dressing. Lemons from my backyard are free, so what the hey--may as well capitalize on those!

Kabocha pie: the piece de resistance. Kabocha, as I hope you now know, is a Japanese pumpkin--green rind, hard as a rock, and small, but DELICIOUS. My grandmother (why is this post all about her? I don't know!) remembers having to eat green-fleshed, unripe kabocha during World War II on her uncle's farm, because everyone was so desperate that they would come in the night and steal all of the pumpkins. Now, sixty years later, she's learned to love ripe kabocha, and I think she'll love this updated pumpkin pie. Kabocha flesh is somewhat drier than your regular canned pumpkin or sugar pie pumpkin flesh, so it takes more moisture added to create a smooth paste for pie/custard, FYI.

Now, the best part of Thanksgiving dinner is always the side dishes and pie. I've pulled together a list of mouth-watering alternatives to the traditional yams and stuffing from our friends at other blogs--enjoy!
-From the Food Channel, the addition of bacon and cheese to creamed corn sounds like heaven in my mouth. If you wanted a mac'n'cheese variant, this one sounds like a winner to me!

-Brussels sprouts with pearl onions, one of my favorite vegetables to pan-roast and serve with pasta. Try it drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, or tossed with walnuts for extra crunch.

-Potatoes au gratin. Got to love the cheese+potatoes+butter combination. Scalloped potatoes are also a super-classy mashed potato option.

-Japanese sweet potato, baked in the oven. These gems have papery, rust-colored skin and a golden flesh that will literally melt your tongue off if you eat it piping-hot. Poke holes in the imo (potato) with a fork and oven-roast right on the rack, with a tray underneath to catch the sap that dribbles down. Yes, they're that sweet!

-Cave Cibum has a lovely recipe for scones with bacon, cheddar cheese, and scallions that sound like the perfect breakfast in bed, midnight snack, or clam chowder indulgence partner to me. God loves a terrier, but God also loves scones, I bet.

-Featured on The Kitchn, a savory kabocha and tofu pie. This recipe piques my interest because it uses firm tofu, when often in tofu-baked-goods recipes you'll see silken tofu as an egg substitute. I love this one, because it's like a quiche you wouldn't feel so guilty about eating half of. Did I just write that out loud?

-For pumpkin pie "haters" (WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU), the Food Gal has a solution. Pichet Ong's kabocha cheesecake looks divine, and if there is anyone who does a better "fusion" dessert than P*Ong, I would be pleasantly surprised.

-The Recipe Girl made her mark on Ina Garten's Pumpkin Banana Mousse Tart, a recipe I've always thought would be a good way to use up that half-can of pumpkin puree and brown banana languishing on the kitchen counter.

That's Thanksgiving to me this year. I'm thankful for my family (my grandmother, obviously!), for having a good, steady job at this time of upheaval, and that I'm back in California. It may be raining out here, but at least it's not snowing when I have to trudge out to the grocery store. It's the little things we have to learn to be thankful for, right?

Holiday Gift Guide: For Your Favorite Foodie

For this installment of our holiday gift guide, we're cooking up great ideas for your favorite connoisseurs of cuisine, the epicurean elitists, and the hopelessly kitchen-inept! Enjoy~

Karen:

- Everyone loves a gorgeous salad bowl and utensils to toss with, it makes otherwise boring salad dinners a little more fancy and fun. Bamboo is a simple, renewable, elegant option for the kitchen, or a lovely glass serving set can double as a punch bowl. Obviously in my mind, the recipient of your gifts is a huge fan of tiki style. Punch and bamboo for everyone!

- Delight.com also has stylish, eco-friendly and artisan options for the home and kitchen, like this serving set that looks like branches sprouting leaves. Why not throw in a few simple recipes while you're at it and add a little touch of healthy encouragement?

- We love ModCloth and their chemical elements salt and pepper shakers. How cute are they? Cooking is really just delicious chemistry, right? I am a huge sucker for adorably twee kitchen items. Check this one out, it's a salt and PEEP-er shaker! Love it.

- For your favorite dinner party maestro, the always adorable Fred Flare has the most amazing finger food plates. Just don't gesticulate too much with one of those perched on your mitts, or dinner will go flying everywhere! They're so dainty, I just can't stand it.

- Once upon a time, Jeanne gave me a copy of the best gosh-darned book on entertaining ever written: I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by my personal heroine, Amy Sedaris. It is quite possibly the best gift I have ever gotten, and so useful! Amongst the many and varied things I've learned from Ms. Sedaris since Strangers with Candy, seriously, exfoliating before shaving your legs to get a closer shave ranks up top. I highly recommend it. (Jeanne: Kati gave me this, too! So I think we all have a copy, except for maybe Kati. Karen, obviously this is what you need to get Kati to complete the circle.)

- Often at California's best antique malls, you'll see walls packed with vintage produce advertisements. Local restaurants have labels framed as wall decoration, and if you're a design nerd, produce labels offer a real plethora of font styles and a different kind of pin-up girl. The Antique Label Company has prints already framed and categorized, so get searching! How about some twins with lettuce, or a fun Pop Art cucumber?

- Make your own personalized cookbook for that special someone. Base it around a theme, like the recipient's favorite flower, a special meal you shared, or foods that trigger memories. I love the idea of this recipe from Wandering Chopsticks: Budae Jjigae (Korean Army Base Stew) for your relative/friend/associate with Korean connections. A similar recipe for those with a fondness for Japan is our perennial favorite here at the Periodic Elements of Style, nikujaga. A personalized cookbook is also a great way to encourage an adventurous palate. Why not nudge your "regular" meat-and-potatoes giftee towards a little bit of Bamboo Shoots with Ground Pork the Japanese Way to share? This year, I'm making a batch of Panamanian empanadas for my grandmother who has complained about the lack of authentic empanadas since she left the Panama Canal zone in 1974. (Shh, don't tell her!)

Jeanne:

My family loves cookbooks; my late grandmother had an entire library of cookbooks that she collected over the years, and some of them made their way to me. She always had the right cookbook, and so I always love looking at them and discovering new things, even if I'm more of a "boil it! microwave it! whatever!" cook.

- Of course, the new cookbook is the internet, especially since there are some amazing foodbloggers out there. Not only does Karen have a bunch in her blogroll here on PeriodicStyle, but there's also the new BlogHer Food Blog search widget, where you can type in a recipe title or an ingredient and find something amazing to read and eat. Awesome.

- Last year, my brother and my two male cousins (both college students) received these cookbooks from my mom: A Man, A Can, A Plan or A Man, A Can, A Microwave. Besides the initial laugh of "oh, ha hah, cooking with a can and a microwave because I can't really cook anything without using can of microwave", they're put together by Men's Health magazine and actually look like something you'd want to eat. If you're trying to wean someone off of fast food and into the kitchen, this would be a good first step. (That said, I give everyone, dude or lady, full credit that they can definitely cook whatever they want if they put their mind to it.)

- The San Francisco area has the most amazing food and incredible restaurants, especially those that focus on local produce. I visited the girl & the fig in Sonoma a few weeks back and loved it, so I was excited to see the the girl & the fig cookbook in a cooking supply shop after leaving the restaurant. I didn't get a full look at the book, but I'm sure it's amazing. Another legendary restaurant in San Francisco is Greens, the vegetarian restaurant at Fort Mason. My mom gave me a copy of Everyday Greens, the most recent Greens cookbook, last year, and (again) while I haven't had the chance to make anything from it yet, the sandwiches and salads all sound delicious and incredibly realistic to make.

- Maybe you have a little cook, or just the imagination of one. As a kid, I loved cookbooks that tied in to the stories I loved, whether it was fairy tales or the Boxcar Children. (How many hours did I spend pretending I lived in a boxcar? Many.) So while there's a whole range of childrens' stories cookbooks out there, two we particularly want to highlight are Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes (highly recommended by Karen) and the Little House Cookbook featuring recipes from the Laura Ingalls Wilder canon for those of you who always wanted to eat a roasted pig tail or a bear's drumstick. (Related: Have you seen HalfPintIngalls on Twitter? Hilarious!)

- Finally, the final course is my weakness, desserts. From San Francisco's Citizen cake comes Demolition Desserts, head chef Elizabeth Falkner's guide to amazing desserts. Again, I haven't poured over this one yet, but the cupcakes at Citizen Cake are amazing. (Alas, Citizen Cupcake, the satellite location in Virgin Records, has closed!) And then, of course, there are the amazing Paris Sweets, a recipe book that collects recipes from the finest (and most famous) Paris bakeries. I popped "paris sweets" into the BlogHer Food Blog search and found this amazing-looking black and white cake, eclairs with lavender white chocolate mousse, opera cake, world peace cookies (chocolate with fleur de sel salt!), and punition cookies. Oooh.

- Not related to cookbooks: tea. Buy tea. Buy Mariage Freres tea (there are more varieties here, but I can vouch for Marco Polo) and a nice teapot and you will not go wrong. I promise you.

Kati:

Despite having cook in my job title, I don't actually cook that much when I'm off work. Why? Well, one of my main problems is I never seem to have all the ingredients and I have little desire to go out and procure foodstuffs to make things after work, when I can just go out and procure prepared food.

- Apparently Mark Bittman's cookbooks, How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian are amazing. Good to know!

- But what if you want to create your own recipes? Etsy has some adorable recipe cards, including these (kitties!) or these (bunnies! squirrels!) from BoyGirlParty and these from nutandbee.etsy.com.

- Need a spice rack? This one rotates and comes pre-filled with twenty different spices.

- After all of your cooking, you'll want to keep your leftovers and eat them later. Here's a set of Pyrex containers, which are microwavable (yay!).

image from modcloth.com

Science Fair for November 17th-23rd

Can you believe it's almost Thanksgiving here in the U.S.? I'm feeling a bit under the weather today, but I must persevere, for the cooking responsibility is all mine come Thursday afternoon! The big news at my house this week is that we acquired a gigantic jar of buckwheat honey from the farmers' market, and our hearts are breaking over rumors of Pushing Daisies getting cancelled. Lee Pace, my darling boy, you can always come live in my heart if you are out of a job!

On that note, here's your Science Fair!

-Speaking of honey, I have a lot to use up. The ever-useful National Honey Board has some nifty beauty tips and tricks using your favorite honey. Who knew why it works so well as a moisturizer? I'll never pay money for drugstore beauty products with honey in them again!

-As a big honey fan, I am always concerned about Colony Collapse Disorder, it makes me want to start keeping bees in my backyard.

-From World Changing, check out this hilarious but adorably animated video chiding Japan on its food security and wasteful ways. I find the fact that Japan wastes so much foodstuff most deserving of highlight, considering that the way my Japanese grandmother uses every little bit of everything she buys!

-Also out of Asia, dudes need to stop trying to play with wild animals, zoo or not. Wild animals are still wild, remember, and even if you're bitten by a neighborhood dog, make sure you get your rabies shot! Last year around this time, a local boy was mauled and killed by a tiger at the zoo, it was quite the tragic debacle.

-Onto brighter topics, THANKGIVING!! The Environmental News Network has tip on how to green your Thanksgiving all over. Having made the mistake of trying to thaw and cook a whole turkey in a single day, I have personally sworn off of cooking large fowl for national holidays, and will be making a pot roast for my table of six. If there are complaints, I will knife them in the hand.

-Coming right up is another national holiday you've probably forgotten about: the end of Prohibition! We'll be out celebrating (aka, drinking--safely) in San Francisco, dressed as flappers in our best backseamed stockings and cloche hats. Is there any better way to remember our national history than to drink to it? I think not.

-For historical fashion inspiration, we've turned to public resources like the brilliant New York Public Library Digital Gallery and the new archive of LIFE Magazine photos from the 1750s onward, hosted by Google.

Coming up on the Periodic Elements of Style, you'll get a peek of my Thanksgiving table and some tips from the make-up trailer on Twilight! Have a great week, everyone!

Where balms and lipstains meet!

I love the idea of a lipstain in theory -- lipcolor that lasts all day, even through eating and drinking! But they can be drying if you don't wear a balm over them, and still can come off on your office mug or napkin when you're eating at your cubicle all day. (What? That's the best way to test these things, right?)

You all know that Benetint is my stain of choice for my cheeks, but I originally wanted to wear it on my lips. But its lack of portability in the liquid form, and the fact that the Benetint balm comes in a pot and not a stick or a tube so I have to stick my fingers in it (or carry around a lip brush, which is a pain too) isn't ideal for me. So when I got the chance to ask Jean Ford if there were any plans to make my dream product, a Benetint balm in a lipstick or lip gloss form, she said no and I was sad.

But there is a bright side: Poppy King, the Lipstick Queen, made my dreams come true with Medieval.

I first spotted Medieval at Product Girl, where I immediately pinged Kati and said, "Look at this post! I want this!" The next day I was marching downstairs to Barney's cosmetics department. The same day I was picking it up, Blogdorf Goodman wrote about Medieval too.

It's totally the same sort of thing as Benetint -- the universal sheer rosy red, but in a lipstick. I heart it so much, you have no idea. And, you know, if BeneFit still decided to make one (with SPF!), I would snap it up too. But until then, I am more than thrilled with Medieval.

And then I found another one! I went to the local Japanese supermarket and of course started poking around the beauty and cosmetics aisle. There I found a lip balm that loudly proclaimed, "No Need for Lipstick" with the color name of "Nadeshiko Pink". Hmmm. Since "Nadeshiko" is a phrase that means "ideal/perfect woman", I had a feeling it was supposed to be another universally flattering color. And so I bought it.

Opening up the balm, it's white, like a regular Chapstick. But on applying, it turned hot pink. I even took before and after pictures for all to see. The before picture has no lip balm on at all, while the second is about a minute after applying two or three swipes of the balm.

The balm is nice and moisturizing, and the hot pink color lasts for hours, even when the balm itself has worn off. I even woke up the next morning with pink lips.

I believe it's the same sort of concept as Smashbox's O-GLOSS, where it is initially clear but then turns pink against your skin, as demonstrated by the Beauty Brains. (Apparently there's a JK Jemma Kid Lip Gloss that does the same thing.) I don't have the packaging in front of me, but I'll definitely check to see if it's got Red 27 when I get home.

So those are two stainy balms I've been playing with lately! Sheer red and hot pink, yay!

What have your latest beauty discoveries been?

images from periodicstyle.blogspot.com

Science Fair for November 10th - 16th

Quick and dirty this week, but full of comics!

- After attending the Alternative Press Expo earlier this month, I helped the Lovely L., who created the banners for both PeriodicStyle and PeriodicBeauty, set up her adorable minicomic The Littlest Elle on Wordpress! Go check it out at elle.mysky.net!

- Because of APE, L. and I were featured on Pirate Cat Radio last week, talking about our trip to Japan last September. The ginormous podcast is available here -- it's 110 MB, and L. and I come in around 39:30 on the 11/14 podcast. We talk about Godzilla and Nara deer (the true menace in Japan).

- In addition, I'd like to introduce you to Corinne Mucha, who is an excellent storyteller and an all-around nifty person. Her comic blog is here. In particular, I would like to direct you to Procrastination, because it is true. As are the comics she has for sale. The one about her apartment is my favorite. (Heads up for language if you are sensitive to the swears.)

- Going off of Procrastination, which places some blame on puppies, I give you live-streaming shiba inu puppies. You guys have already seen them, right? And you love them, right? (And if you don't love them, we can't be friends anymore. Sorry. It's harsh but true.)

- Final proscrastination comics, I swear: Kate Beaton has hilarious historical and autobiographical comics for the truly geeky of us. My favorites include Girl's Best Friend, Jane Austen Comics, and pretty much all of her nonsense cartoons, particularly For Better And Also Worst and Another Dang Garfield Cartoon. (Another language heads-up. I'm only looking out for you.)

Have a great week!

Holiday Gift Guide: Homemade & Handmade

For our first weekly Holiday Gift Guide, we thought it would be awfully nice and quaint to start out with a handcrafted, homemade from the heart theme. Homemade for the holidays, for each and every loved one! We've dug up a bunch of great, easy projects for even the least crafty of ecumenical gifters. I remember being absolutely thunderstruck when my sister-in-law, adorable as she is, brought Christmas presents in homemade, reusable drawstring bags--made of sale Christmas-themed flannel, so they only get softer as you reuse them! So simple, and ingenious. Here are a few more to whet your appetite for the coming week, since OF COURSE all that free time you have must be going to waste!

Karen:
-This five-minute gift bag will make the humblest of presents shine, and if you have little girls to give to, you can rest assured that that little bag/basket shape will get a lot of use.
-Juicy Bits' felt "birthday" crown reminds me of tissue crowns for Christmas in the UK or King's Cake from New Orleans, all about celebration and making the day special for your friends and family! It would make a great stocking stuffer, or addition to anyone's favorite costume box.
-For the fashionista in your life (aka yourself, hello), try simply recreating a piece they've been admiring. Par exemplar, a skirt with appliqued polka dots, or one of those so-simple-you-would-smack-yourself-for-buying it embroidered full skirts from Anthropologie. Take a favorite t-shirt and stencil or silkscreen a special message or image--during my last few months in college radio, a friend and I made t-shirts for the entire executive board commemorating our year(s) of service together, and we all still wear them today!
-Everyone seems to have a jar of box of old buttons somewhere, right? Our grandmothers used to cut the nice buttons right off of those clothes they wore to shreds back in the day and kept them, just in case. As a proud vintage button junkie, I can tell you right now that there just aren't enough things you can do with a button collection other than pick through them fondly, but Peptogirl has proven me wrong with her delightful little stacked button rings. One size fits all, heirloom vintage pieces with a modern twist, what's not to love?
-For the home chef and/or dainty kitchen-lover, Marilyn of Simmer Till Done has an idea for molded cinnamon-chocolate sugars! You can pick up the most amazing butter/sugar/pastry molds for cheap at your local antique mall or thrift store, they're often sold in sets. I took my mother out to high tea for her birthday last weekend, and the tea shop had colored molded sugars in the shape of maple leaves for fall--try a theme with yours if you find appropriate molds, the recipients will love it!
-Speaking of my mother, despite having an extreme allergy to housework and domesticity in general, she collects aprons like it's her job. For the domestic goddess, kiddie chef, grillmaster, or incongruous collector in your life, there's a plethora of homemade apron options out there. Think of it as encouragement in their favorite hobby, housework or otherwise!
-Lastly, with all those days off from work/school and guests coming for the holidays, don't you want your place to look in tip-top shape? For those who hate having to drill and attach a real headboard to beds, Good Housekeeping (of all websites!) has a headboard wall stencil tutorial that is just too cute not to try out.

Jeanne:
As some of you may know, Kati and I originally got to know each other and started blogging together as knitters, so I will always be ready with a dozen knitting patterns. If you need help getting started, FreePatterns.com has videos on how to knit all sorts of stitches.

One of the best knitting resources online since 2002 is Knitty, the quarterly knitting magazine. I've pulled some of their scarf patterns here as a sampling of some of the cool things you can do.

- Exchequered is a double-knit (so doubly warm) checkered scarf that would be supercute for ladies or gentlemen. (I might just do the regular checkered pattern, myself.)
- Wavy is a variation on the ribbed scarf that ripples back and forth in, well, waves.
- Danica uses the entrelac technique, which I have never learned but am intrigued by.
- If you're looking for a cowl like the ones featured on Punky Style, then you might want to play with Aibhlinn. (I am considering it, but possibly with leaving the bobbles off...)
- For a lacy scarf or wrap that can be sized up or down easily, take a look at Cozy. I knit a lovely scarf using this pattern and some yarn I bought in Kyoto.
- Finally, no guide to handknit scarves/wraps can be complete without the (in)famous Clapotis. Ah, Clapotis. I shall say no more. But it is much less complicated than it looks.

From all of us at the Periodic Elements of Style:
Have a wonderful, fun, and safe holiday season! We'll be back next week with another gift guide, all about our favorite subject--food!

Meeting the Founders at Sephora University

So if you remember, and I think you do, I went to the first Sephora University event back in April, when they hosted a Bare Escentuals master class. And if you recall from that post, I said, "Gosh, if they have BeneFit or Tarte or one of my other favorite brands, I'll totally go!"

Thus, when the invite to two nights of Meet the Founders came in, and Jean Ford of BeneFit was coming one night and Maureen Kelly of Tarte was coming the other, I did what I had to do: I signed up for both nights. For a $40 entry fee (redeemed as a Sephora gift card), I got two really fun nights.

The events were organized differently from the BE night -- we gathered around in the classroom for Q&A with the founders, then went into separate brand rooms for makeovers and personal time with the founders. (Yay!!)

Day One:



Day One featured the founders of five different brands, all of which you can see here from left to right: Too Faced Cosmetics, Oscar Blandi, Make-Up Forever, Carol's Daughter, and BeneFit. (You can click on it to get bigger.)

The Too Faced room featured cupcakes (yay!), makeovers, and a chance to say hi to Jared Blandino, the founder of Too Faced. I asked him about his eyeshadow primer, Shadow Insurance, which he said he developed for Britney Spears, Madonna, and Gwen Stefani. Sold! (We also got samples of it, and I am excited to try it out more.)

Carol's Daughter's founder, Lisa Price, made rose-milk bath for everyone while chatting about her line, her life, and was incredibly sweet. (I have yet to try out my rose-milk bath; it is currently in the refrigerator where it's probably freaking my roommate out.) I was also thrilled that in our swag bag, we got a full-sized Love Butter, which smells amazing.

I went on to Oscar Blandi, and since I have such short hair, there isn't really much to do with it. That said, they did try out a root touch-up and highlighting pen on me to show how I could make my roots much less stark. (I'm officially letting the blonde go.) There was also the Dry Shampoo, which we got in the swag bag, and which lazy me will probably put to use.

Since BeneFit is one of my favorite brands that I've been a cheerleader for for years, I particularly wanted to talk with Jean Ford and ask her if she was ever going to put a Benetint balm in a stick or wand-gloss form. Alas, she said no! Which made me sad, as a stick or gloss Benetint balm would be my most favorite product of all time. Still, the new BadGAL plum mascara looked really pretty on me. (I totally don't need any more mascara, though, which you will hear more about in my summary...)

I didn't spend as much time in the Make-Up Forever room, but everyone was getting amazing false eyelashes applied. Since I came in so late, there weren't very many left, and since I would love a totally over-the-top pair with big feathers or swooshy things, they'd just be smacking into my glasses all night. So I opted out, but I loved watching everyone else get their lashes applied.

Day Two:



Day Two only had four founders, which made it a little easier on us for dividing up our time. From left to right, Cosmedicine (standing), Tarte, Korres, and Fresh.

First we (I say we because I paired up with the awesome Nancy, who had also attended the first night; it's so much more fun to chill with someone at these things than go solo!) went to the Tarte room, where we met with Maureen and learned that her favorite trick is to line the inner rim of the eye with black pencil. We got the EmphasEYES high definition eye pencil in our bags to try it out for ourselves. (I've already tried it out, and apparently I fail at lining the inner rim, but I could have told you that anyway. That said, it comes in purple and green, too, which is mighty tempting...)

Next we went to the Fresh boutique room, which was a lot of fun because I love Fresh and so I got to blab at Nancy about all the things I love -- the face wash, the fragrance, the make-up, etc. etc. etc. We also got to chat with Alina Roytberg, the founder of Fresh, who is absolutely an awesome woman and has more than solidified my affection for the brand. I got my "makeover" (Alina said she doesn't like that word) done here, using the Imperial Bedroom palette. Lucky for me, I already had the Imperial Bedroom palette (I am a sucker for Fresh's pretty palettes), so it was fun to have someone show me how to use something I already had. The next day, I turned around and used it for my Little Red Riding Hood look. We also got to test out the new Sephora exclusive Fresh scent, Strawberry Flowers.

We then went on to Korres, where I fell hard for the body butter in Vanilla Plum. It's that warm spicy yet slightly fruity scent that I've been really finding myself drawn to more and more. (Could it be I'm narrowing down my signature scent??) I loved it and I am also mighty tempted by the pomegranate make-up remover wipes, which smell amazing and not at all like babies.

To end the night, we finished up at Cosmedicine. Skin care is always tricky for me, since I've gone through so many brands and I think I've found what I like in Bliss, but it's always interesting to see what people have to say. I'm curious about Medi-Matte, which is a tinted mattifier, but I honestly haven't gotten around to trying my Cosmedicine stuff yet because I'm so gun-shy about trying new skincare.

In conclusion, once again I had a really good time at Sephora University. The campus remains amazing and the Sephora staffers I met were all extremely nice, even when there was a small snafu with my registration (I wasn't on the list! but they found me all the same, which was nice). Everything I got was worth a lot more than the $40 I paid to attend, which was surprising. It was really nice to get to meet so many cool people, from Nancy to the staffers to the founders to the camera guy (you know, the one who kept taking pictures of me without make-up at the BE event).

I wound up walking away with five brand-new full size mascaras, which is kind of hilarious and a little frustrating at the same time. Guys, I know you all have awesome mascaras, and I know that mascara is one of the few universal things (not everyone can wear the same lipgloss/blush/etc.)... but now I have five brand-new mascaras and don't know where to start. (That said, I am totally not complaining about getting free SuperNova or BadGAL mascara!) But now I'm set for mascara into 2010 if I follow the three-month rule!

The answer to the question, would I go to another Sephora University event, remains yes. Yes, I would! Even if I have to wait another six months (because I know how long it takes to organize these things!), I would go again.

For more pictures of the Sephora University event, including the Too Faced cupcakes and pictures of me with the founders, you can check out my Sephora University set on Flickr.

images from periodicstyle.blogspot.com