Science Fair for June 22nd-28th

What a weekend I had! I'm usually a huge homebody, so a double-header of weekend outings is CRAZY TIMES. We made the trek out to Coney Island on Saturday, and it was a strange mix of amazing and sad, not to mention dirty and probably hepatitis-ridden. Since I'm a wuss who is afraid of dying on roller coasters (have you see how rickety that Cyclone is?), I only made it onto the Wonder Wheel, which was an incredible view of the whole park but totally sick-making as the cars swung wildly back and forth. Phew. Was I glad when that ride was over! Sunday, I went out to "royal" tea at Lady Mendl's salon in the Inn at Irving Place, it was lovely and delightful despite the torrential downpour we were caught in. I am a huge sucker for those tiny tea sandwiches and chinoiserie!

Now, off to this week's Science Fair:
-I'm always searching for little, easy ways to make my diet healthier. Surely the trips to Nathan's Hot Dogs and pizza nights don't help, but I'll take any hints or encouragement I can get. If you're just starting out on a healthier lifestyle, or looking to renew your efforts, here are some nice, simple tips for healthy eating.

-Are you feeling lucky? You'll need a little more style than luck if this Urban Decay vegan cosmetics contest, but it goes without saying that our readers are OBVIOUSLY super-chic all the time. Let us know if you enter, we'd love to see your submission!

-I've just discovered a new site out of the UK, HippyShopper, that's a great resource for green, stylish products. Most of them are available in the UK, but I'm sure with a little Google effort, you could find them near you.

-Tastespotting is back, thank goodness! I wish I could be so talented at food photography as these people...wow. Warning: DO NOT LOOK AT TASTESPOTTING WHILE HUNGRY.

-From what I observed at afternoon tea yesterday, I suspect a fascinating psycho-social study could be made of how young ladies like ourselves just love to pretend like we are fancy, fancy debutantes and socialites. You can, too, with a couple of recipes for finger sandwiches like radishes with butter and mint with cucumber. Lovely! If I could re-do my life up until now, I might go into nutritional anthropology/culinary history like Deb Duchon.

-New York City is going through a huge food crisis of the fatty and delicious kind right now. It's got to be tough to make your pies flaky and cannolis light and crisp without artery-clogging grotesquerie. Truthfully, I haven't noticed any changes--fatty food is still fattening, with or without trans fats!

I'm back to beautiful, smoky California in two weeks, so off I go to eat myself silly in Manhattan! Have a great week, everyone!

This Week in Total Beauty: June 27

Happy Friday! We've been having a lot of fires in the Bay Area lately, which is awful. The sky is grey like it's going to rain, but it's 68 degrees and sunny according to my weather widget. The air's smoky and the whole thing is scary and sad and is totally throwing me off. I almost wish it would rain, which is funny because months ago I was staring at this grey sky wishing for summer...

Here's this week's round-up of Total Beauty bloggers! Have a great weekend!

Are you ready for a Warm Chill? Roselyn from Makeup Makes Me Happy™ is raving about the latest limited edition collection from MAC Cosmetics. Here she gives us a fabulous makeup tutorial featuring the cool blue hues from MAC's Cool Heat.

Who is the THEVI Woman? Girl-Woman-Beauty-Brains-Blog introduces you to the new line of cosmetics for the NEW ethnic woman.

Does the T3 Plump Heat-Seeking Liquid Hair Plumper give Makeup Bag hair like Serena Van der Woodsen?

Alison of the Advice Sisters Guide To Life, Success & Happiness Blog visits with Redken's color consultant, David Stanko at the Angelo David Salon in New York, and answers the question: Are In-Salon Treatments Really Worth it?

Viva Woman compares compact, mineral and loose powder foundation and finds out which is better based on coverage, skin type, formulation, convenience and affordability.

The Muse saws open her Urban Decay Potion Primer and finds out how to make the most of it!

Meredith at Daily Dose of Coffee finally checks out MAC's Tendertones and thinks that it's a product worth keeping in your makeup bag.

Beauty's Spot is tangled up in shades of orange this summer as Nars Lip Lacquer in Capucine has stolen her heart.

Beauty Anonymous reviews Corioliss Pro Black Flat Iron!

Tink at Casual Lavish provides a step by step Beach Waves hair tutorial. Get your summer groove on with some fun waves and have fun!!

Monique at Beauty Girl Musings has discovered a new, more grown-up scent that she adores!

Top 10 Celebrity Hair Stylists Hair Tips by Talking Makeup.

The girls over at Beauty in Real Life got a chance to interview celebrity makeup artist Fatima Olive, click here to read her fabulous makeup tips.

Come join The Life of a Ladybug's no!no! giveaway! All you have to do is enter your name and e-mail address and you have a chance to win a brand new no!no! hair removal device!

Jeanne at Periodic Style is dealing with a self-tanning mishap...

Summer heat doing a number on your skin? Beauty411 shares how the new June Jacobs Cooling and Soothing Masque can help you beat the heat and improve your skin!

Makeup Junkie shares a new Makeup Obsession and it's not lip gloss!

Beauty Tyrant is virtually poreless now, thanks to her Pore-fect Idealist. Find out how this product makes it to her Holy Grail.

The best sort of vintage...

... is the kind that's handed down.

We've been remodelling our house again, and so we've had to clear out the basement (our house is so old we have a basement). While my mom was down there, she found these two pairs of shoes that were my late grandmother's. Since they were found with my aunt's baby clothes, I'm assuming they're from the early 1950's.

I love them. My feet are too big for them. My grandma had tiny feet -- these shoes are labeled as 6 1/2 AAA... in 1950's sizes. I used to wear my grandma's old patent-and-cork heeled sandals when I was in middle school (for a costume, not every day!), and then I outgrew them. That and they broke a little. So needless to say, I don't have a problem with wearing vintage shoes.

How interesting that I still really love the aesthetic qualities of these shoes -- the leather, the peep toe, the slingback. (I don't currently have a shot of the shape of the heel, but it's a good heel, too -- not too skinny or clunky, not shaped funny, just a good heel.) I love cork heels because I had that ultimate pair of cork heels.

Is it a twist on nature versus nurture? Do I love these aspects in modern shoes because they are so classic and attractive, or do I love them because they're part of my history?

I really wish I could wear these shoes, I really do, but instead I can sit and sigh over them. All I know is that last weekend (with the skirt and the streaky tan), I wore a pair of leather peep-toe slingback shoes (wedges, though, and I got awful blisters out of it) and those were the only shoes I wanted to wear.

I guess the question is, what draws you to certain elements of a piece of clothing or accessory? Is there any sort of nostalgia for some things, or is it pure aesthetic? I'm curious to know!

Hints for Health and Vigor, #4! Aka the triumphant return!

4. Be aware of the ways in which you could be exposed to toxins every day.

I never paid much attention to the kind of plastic bottle I use, if I throw away a plastic bag, or if I eat something that turns my tongue redder than a firetruck with sirens a-blazing. Until I started checking out websites like MedHeadlines, Science Daily, ProMedMail (subscription-only), Nature, and HealthMap, the only things I worried about in terms of my health were 1) anemia, 2) chronic fatigue syndrome, and 3) heavy metal poisoning. I think the first two are self-explanatory, since most girls who feel tired and weak assume they have one or the other. I used to think I had heavy metal poisoning because my fingernails had funny vertical striations--a little bit of nail buffing took care of that, problem solved.

These days, though, I'm seeing a lot of outcry over toxic substances in the products we use every day. You know that "new car" smell? It's actually potentially toxic off-gassing from the roughly 250 pounds of industrial plastics used in cars. Who doesn't get a thrill from new car smell? It's one of those times, like sitting around smelling markers, when your internal judgment monitor says, "I want to stay here and smell this forever, but I'll bet you a hundred dollars this is pretty bad for me." It's balancing precariously on the line between pleasure and pain. That new shower curtain smell (PVC off-gassing), new mattress smell, and that torturous "will this delicious smoked, grilled slice of ham give me cancer?" quandary.

What's more deceptive, though, are truly the most mundane things--water bottles. The biggest worry right now is specifically toxic BPA release from baby bottles, but big, grown-up kids like Jeanne, Kati, and I still use bottles every day. I try to buy glass bottles of tea and re-use them at the office because I hate to wash sturdier ones, but the plastic kind are absolutely everywhere! Since I lived in Japan, I've tried to pay attention to the little number inside the recycle symbol on the bottom of bottles to avoid toxic BPA. (Note: looking at my Dasani bottle right now, it has a 1.) The scary thing is, almost every college student in America is using those ubiquitous Nalgene bottles, and those are some of the worst BPA offenders! I can't tell you how many times I've filled up a Nalgene with warm water and a teabag to make iced tea--I thought I was a genius, but it turns out that I could have been exposing myself to toxic chemicals! Yikes.

Even Tupperware products have some dangerous BPA, and you're encouraged to microwave those. I like to use Pyrex and glass containers with rubbery lids instead of all-plastic tupperware, you can remove the lid for microwaving and it keeps the contents nice and sealed. Plus, a glass container makes a sad lunch at your desk feel like you're eating out of a real dish, not a half-melted piece of junk.

Since we're on the subject of food now, remember to be careful of unpasteurized cheeses, specifically soft cheeses like brie, bleu cheese, and queso fresco. Listeria monocytogenes and Mycobacterium bovis bacteria are regularly found in contaminated, unpasteurized queso fresco and burrata, particularly the delicious homemade kind. Listeria bacteria cause listeriosis, which can be fatal to fetuses in utero, causes premature labor, and severe symptoms in the immune-compromised and healthy alike. Mycobacterium bovis, on the other hand, is the causative agent behind a particularly nasty and ancient strain of drug-resistant tuberculosis, currently making a comeback in California. My own mother still won't eat soft cheeses or cheese with mold running through it--too bad for her, Point Reyes bleu is local and delicious!

For those of you interested in potentially toxic beauty products, look no further. The Environmental Health Association of Nova Scotia (that's in Canada!) has an amazing Guide to Less Toxic Personal Products, from tampons (toxic shock, ladies, you can never be too careful) to acrylic nails. Interestingly enough, they list dioxin as a toxic chemical commonly found in beauty products. Just recently, Ukraine's president Viktor Yushchenko fell victim to dioxin poisoning
--deliberate espionage or not, the jury is still out. Did you see his before and after pictures? Not a great makeover, I'm sorry to say.

What are you ever so careful of? Do you use any special products we should know about?

WorkWear Daily, June 23rd, 2008

Finally, I have created an outfit for work that I feel proud to post here! It just took a little shot in the arm to revive my wardrobe. Nothing like rediscovering an old-but-now-new (do you know what I mean?) skirt to revv up the ol' outfit stamina.

When I set out my clothes last night, I was so proud of myself--the bow, the lovely pleated skirt, the tying in of the colors in the Target flats, the femininity of it all! Well done, me! I got a compliment on my "colors" from an Italian colleague who rocks the best comfy-business-casual style ever. Silvia is always sort of lovely, soft, and rumpled, she has an adorable two-year-old daughter who puts her through her paces.

Anyway. I thought I'd pull out the blue and brown from the shoes and try out a little retro vibe with the almost full skirt and nipped-in waist. This would have worked better with heels, as the skirt length is a few inches below the knee. I love the Japanese pop flowered shoes, they are great with pedal pushers (I also love the 1950s, can you tell?) and knee-length skirts. The necklace is a moonstone on a silver chain, a gift from my parents.

I definitely walked around swishing my skirt all day and feeling girly, a fairly big achievement for a tomboy like me! Does anyone else find it difficult to pull off those soft, flowy princess looks without looking lumpy and blah? I need structure, pleats and pintucks and horizontal stripes! My day of girly coquettishness is ending with me sitting in a coffeeshop typing this in my gym clothes and my badass teal distressing jacket from H&M. Ah, well. It was good while it lasted.