Beauty Kaboom

Odd as it may sound, my forehead is a pretty reliable indicator of stress levels. Literally, the minute anything feels out of whack, trust that a zit will pop up. I know this seems ridiculous, but it's true.

Towards the latter part of December, I found myself with a gigantic pimple right smack on the forehead, a few millimeters short of center. If you read the Happy New Home post, it was in plain sight.

I know all of this sounds quite superficial, but I do have more serious thoughts about beauty that I'm better off not talking about in public. Oh, and I'm no longer stressed out right now, just wanted to share that bit of trivia and at the moment, indulge in some random ramblings on beauty, hair, and skincare, starting with...

1) A New Brightening Product
My former editors know how I feel about whitening products: I don't like them because they essentially go against the grain of loving one's own skin tone, no matter what. But, when new products come up marketed to even-out skin tone and address dark spots—and not exactly bleach your complexion to dangerous proportions—I'm more forgiving. Luminaze, for example, claims its formula is gentle enough to use everyday, thanks to an enzyme derived from mushrooms that targets melanin in the skin. The enzyme supposedly is 'programmed' to do that one thing, so that with anything else it touches, it's pretty much harmless—at least that's what the brand says about their product. What I think sets this apart from other brightening skincare is that it doesn't contain hydroquinone, a bleaching agent found in some products (not cool).

2) Haircare Resolution
In my Fashion Decisions post, I'd mentioned wanting to fix my hair more often. I figured, I should start going to the salon for regular blowouts—versus trying to address my tresses using a hairdryer because first, I don't have the patience to brush and dry my hair for almost an hour(!), and second, I just think it's a waste of time (even if I did have the patience…or flair for hair, for that matter) when I could be doing more productive things, or getting more sleep.

3) Beauty, in general
About those serious thoughts, well, let me touch on them for a bit. Lately, I've been thinking more and more about metrics for success, and the personality that comes with it. I realized, I want to be kind, sincere, and...real. If I have to sacrifice the above just to blaze a trail in my chosen field, or if I have to be mean and step on people's toes, I'd be happy to sit it out on the sidelines…and perhaps have more time to fixate on my hair!

In The Kitchen

Churning out sweet and savory treats :)

Now that we've settled into our new home, I've had more time to tinker about in the kitchen. So far, I've made:

Banana Walnut Muffins…

Buttermilk Biscuits…

 …and Hazelnut Brownies!

Read about the biscuits at All My Sugar, and tune in for the rest of the recipes—will blog about them soon!

Fashion Decisions

My items arrived in this beautifully-wrapped package!

Now that we've settled into our new home, I can concern myself with other things like cooking, baking, blogging, beauty and fashion. A few days ago, I announced to my husband that "this year, I think I'll fix my hair more." To that, he politely pointed out that I haven't been fixing up so much. Now, Alvs isn't mean or condescending that way—far from it, actually. He was merely stating the obvious: I've gotten so lazy in terms of primping in preening. While I've always prided myself for being able to get dressed in five minutes flat, especially in the summertime, it seems like I've taken the 'express-wear' to the extreme by getting up at the  last minute, grabbing something quick from the closet, and heading out, hustling all the way to the subway.

Now, it's not like I've been going out looking like a slob. The one other thing that I'm actually proud of is my well-edited closet. I regularly purge and review its contents so that anything I pull from it makes sense. If something no longer fits or works—whether or not it had been purchased weeks, months, or years ago—out it goes to be donated. (Also, I think people should donate articles of clothing when they still look fabulous!)

So, last Friday after work, I spent a good chunk of time online shopping at Zara. It's soo much easier than browsing and trying on items at the store. What I love about this brand is that it's consistent in sizing, making it a breeze to pick out pieces.

Since I missed out on a super-cute nautical print tulip dress over the summer, when I saw the orange A-line dress above, I immediately went for it. (Zara updates inventory every week, so I've heard.) I also picked out these laminated heel court shoes, as I've had to let go of my favorite nude pumps because they have gotten so old.

Also part of this year's fashion resolution is to re-train my feet to wear sky-high heels. I know it sounds silly, but yes, I'm going forward with it. Of course I'm doing the New-York-commuter version by heading to work in comfy flats/boots, and changing into these ridiculous things later on. (Oh, the things we women do for fashion!)

Ta-da! Here's how I wore the new pieces today :)

(Dress image courtesy of Zara)

Happy New Home

New year, new home. Cheers!

Over the holidays, my husband and I moved into a one-bedroom apartment—which meant that on top of the usual flurry that comes with the season, we also had to deal with hauling things back and forth and all over, even from out of state! This included two trips to Ikea, U-Haul rentals on separate occasions, and more.

But, the best part of the season was finally having our own space. We welcomed 2012 over champagne, cheese, chocolate, and cheers and were absolutely thrilled, even if at the time, our living room looked like a disaster area. In lieu of a center table/console on which to place the cheese board, we stacked Banker's boxes...which, by the way, also make up our nightstand at the moment.

Our makeshift bedside table.

That said, it's refreshing—and a relief!—to know that my husband and I share the same design aesthetic and essentially agree on items to prioritize. Our bed was our first splurge, while the reasonable, well thought-out pieces from Ikea have been a blessing and a joy to shop for.

Our living room is actually looking better these days.
This piece from Ikea marries form and function…at a price that can't be beat!

My modernist take on home design clearly stems from having had chores growing up and I have no doubt in my mind about it. You see, it's key for me that our living space is easy to clean, so that automatically discounts all the frilly stuff that can collect dust. As for my husband, I guess with him being a guy—who also happens to like tech things—clean lines make sense.

Speaking of Ikea, on one occasion, I spotted a woman carrying an Hermès bag and I immediately had a light-bulb moment. I thought, That's it! That pretty much sums up how I want to approach this whole thing about furnishing our new home: Even when I can afford Hermès, I still would want to be seen traipsing around the mega-store shopping for file folders, shelves or a nice big red table/orange mirror. I want the same high-low approach to interior design in the same I would with fashion.

So, anyway, here's a glimpse of what our home looks like these days. I plan on posting behind-the-scenes pics in another blog post.

I've attempted to blog in the bedroom but with this cozy bed and
fluffy comforter—plus my huggable husband—it's been a challenge!

It's still pretty much a blank canvas, and the plan is
to keep things clean, modern, and cozy.

Moving!

I can't wait to get one of these! The Mamma Ro Garlic Keeper.
(Image courtesy of Inventorspot.com)

About to start packing for our big move ahead—hopefully in the most logical, non-overwhelming way as possible—and thought I'd squeeze in a blog post before I get carried away with everything that needs to be done. By Saturday.

Fortunately, I have a tiny room with not that much stuff (methinks).

What I'm most excited about is having my own kitchen again. Right now, I have roommates. Don't get me wrong, I have good roommates: One of them speaks the same disinfectant language that I do, and the others, happily share their garlic/milk/eggs/lemon juice/olive oil when I'm running low. (And, yes—I happily share my household loot too).

So going back to the subject, you see, the amount of cooking that I do is directly proportionate to the amount of writing and blogging I get done. Words seem to come up while I'm tinkering about in the kitchen, washing dishes, maybe even chopping garlic... A writer whose name I don't remember called this the "Kitchen Sink" method—doing something totally unrelated to writing to inspire the writing, and I absolutely believe her.

If you look at the gaps in my blogging (especially for All My Sugar), I can tell by the dates that in those weeks/months, I barely cooked or baked. Somehow while the food is being made, words percolate as well.