Science Fair for September 8th - 14th

So sorry for the delay, but here, better late than never, is this past week's science fair!

- First, if you didn't go check out my first two reports on Fashion Week at Periodic Beauty, you can catch them under the label new york fashion week. There will be more once my brain stops being so scrambly.

- Speaking of Fashion Week, here are the six Project Runway Bryant Park collections. Do I even need to tell you who I think should win? I don't think I do.

- From the shiny new Independent Fashion Bloggers, here's a guide on how to make gorgeous self-portraits. This is something I've been meaning to work on for, oh, months.

- Finally, things have been really tough for me lately, and I've been trying to keep some perspective. So here's a commencement speech from the late David Foster Wallace: "This is water."

Have a great week!

More Tea Talk

Man, I don't know about you all, but we three here are super-busy lately. All three of us are now working full-time (and for Kati, sometimes overtime). I know that I was trying to enjoy the last of the summer, but now it's coming into fall... and I'm falling behind. Sorry!

Anyway, while I get to work on writing up some stuff both here and on PBR, here are some more jumping off points to discuss in the comments:

- Did anyone else notice the little pendants on our favorite Gossip Girls this week? Blair was wearing her little diamond "bw" charms from Alex Woo Jewelry during the brunch scene, and Serena, who was on her way to the jitney, was wearing the gold "Mischa" wishbone necklace from Dogeared Jewelry. I, being a fan of little pendants, want both.

- What's with the hating on Posh's new pixie? (Please, please don't let the term "Poxie" catch on.) I think it really shows off her face. (But then, I am biased.) Also adorable: Sam Ronson's new hair. Everyone's been saying the pixie's going to be the big haircut for a couple of years now, but with Posh doing it, will it really happen?

- I've more or less given up soda since I was in college (soda's expensive, water's free!), and right now I'm planning on introducing more vitamins and things like that into my daily routine. I'm always curious to find out what other people are doing, whether it's Mindy Kaling or you! So tell me: what have you given up (or won't give up), and what (if anything) is in your routine?

Anything else you want to discuss? Anything you want my opinion on? Just comment away!

Science Fair for September 1st-7th.

Sorry this is short and late, everyone! I got called into work yesterday, which limited my blogging time. But I think everyone's too busy following the fashion week coverage to be bothered?

-MAC twitters for fashion week. Has anyone actually seen their feed? Granted, I haven't gone looking for it, but it's just another reason why I love MAC.

-Blogdorf discusses Mad Men's influence on the presidential race. I'm not a huge follower of politics and I haven't ever seen an episode of Mad Men, but I have to say I love all the cardigans this season, so if this is who I have to thank, THANK YOU. I've spent three years trying to find some cute cardigans, and finally this season there are seven billion. You know I'm stocking up.

-H&M to open soon in Tokyo. I had no idea that there wasn't an H&M in Japan! It amazes me that there wasn't one until now, since it's probably my favorite place to shop for basics (I always lug a couple of shopping bags from H&M back whenever I visit Jeanne.) Although if they make clothes in real girl sizes like the H&Ms here, then there goes yet another reason why I don't want to live in Japan. Shoot, looks like I might have to do something with my degree soon if this keeps up.

Have a good time this week following Fashion Week or avoiding the coverage entirely.

Facing the Tents

Technically, I am on an airplane right now, but I thought you all should know: I'm going to Fashion Week in New York. It's crazy, right? I'm attending with Total Beauty, and I will be there for this Saturday and Sunday. So I'm not doing the whole week -- just getting my feet wet.

Since it's going to be particularly beauty-heavy, my Fashion Week content will be on Periodic Beauty Reviews, so now is the time to subscribe! I'll also be Twittering my experiences at the blog's Twitter account, @periodicstyle, so if you aren't already following, it's a good time to start!

I've never been to an event of this size and this prestige, and so I am (as you can understand) a bit of a nervous wreck. As soon as I learned I had the opportunity to go, the first person I went to to ask for advice was Sarah Conley of StyleItOnline.com. Sarah's the community manager for Coutorture, and she is one radtastic lady. I knew she would steer me straight and it's been so great to get her help and her knowledge and her encouragement.

Sarah's a two-time vet of New York Fashion Week, and this year she's putting together a mini web series called On The Plus Side: A Fuller Figured Fashion Week Experience. It's about being a plus-sized woman during Fashion Week, and how the pressure of an event like that can cripple the most confident and professional of us because of how it makes us feel about our bodies. And that's partially why I decided to just be there for two days: I'm there to see if I can really hang in there, if I can make it, if I can handle it. I know it's going to be tough for little wallflower nerdy me.

I'm so looking forward to watching Sarah's series, because these are issues that all of us need to think about and talk about no matter what size we are. As Sarah says in her mission statement, we need to be helping each other instead of hurting each other. I think we all can agree with that.

I definitely recommend that you check out On the Plus Side; I know that even when Fashion Week's done for me, I'll be checking in on Sarah and seeing the rest of it through her perspective, which is an incredible opportunity for all of us.

See you at Periodic Beauty and Twitter!

The Unkindest Cut

If you haven't checked out Periodic Beauty Reviews just yet, then I would strongly encourage you to do so. The reason why I'll be revealing on Friday, but primarily because you'd miss something like this -- a small offhanded mention that my mom just got some cosmetic surgery done. And frankly, while it's personal for her, it's also personal for me. Does it get any more personal than our own faces?

Part of the reason why so many of my photos on the blog (check out my collage!) are in sunglasses are that I, like my mom, have bags under my eyes. And often I try to hide them under my glasses to a certain degree -- I particularly choose plastic frames instead of wired rims or "invisible" glasses. But, as you can see in these pictures from CupcakeCamp and the Total Beauty event in May, the bags are definitely there. (And no, I'm not just linking off to them so that you have to click through to see my eyebags -- the Flickr image is "all rights reserved", and I'm assuming the Total Beauty one is as well.)

You also can't really see it in the pictures (a little in the cupcake one), but I also have a vein running alongside the bottom of my right eye. Whenever I sit down in makeover chairs, the artists automatically grab their concealer and that's where they go first. For years, people have been asking me about it -- once even accusing Karen of punching me in the eye. ("What's with your eye? Did she hit you?") I can deflect attention away from it with my glasses, but obviously a major blood vessel in my face isn't going to go away.

A few months ago, my mom said she was going to get a consult on getting her eyes done. I raised my eyebrows and said, "Really?" "Just a consult," she said. But she brought home the brochures and eventually she decided that yes, she was going for it. And so two weeks ago, the day that we took Kati back to the airport after she came to visit, my mom went in for surgery.

I don't begrudge my mom for getting what she wanted to do done. But her line of reasoning was that le eyebags are genetic -- her father had them, she has (had) them, and so along those lines... those are my genes, too. (Mom: "I'm tired of looking exhausted all the time!" Me: "I am exhausted all the time!") No eye-depuffing product is going to make them go away, despite my products and my trying, but at the same time, I'm not going to take two weeks' worth of paid time off to lie in my bed with ice on my face after getting it cut open. I would rather take that money and that time and go to Paris (or Hawaii). I would not feel bad about my eyes if I were in Hawaii. (And honestly, on a day-to-day basis, I don't feel bad about my eyes anyway!)

So honestly, I don't know how I feel. My mom wanted them done, and she got them done, but I don't really think she needed it. And I don't think I need it or will need it or want it. It's just one of those things where my mom's addressing something that bothers her... that's also there in me.

I don't have a conclusion or a message or what have you, but this is something that's truly been staring me in the face and has been on my mind. Because beauty, above all, is personal.

images from periodicstyle.blogspot.com