style

The girl in this picture looks fantastic. This fellow looks pretty good too, but I don't wish I looked like him. Heh.

Gotsta Go

I'm really enjoying Kelly Rowland's song Gotsta Go from her new album. Her live performance at MTV Japan sounds much better than the album version, which apparently isn't on the U.S. version.

as old as my tongue

A curiously poetic title for a documentary about Bi Kidude, a Zanzibar singer perhaps 100 years old. Afrobella has the coolest info.

outstanding music albums

I mean albums that are perfection in their entirety. They're still as strong and original today as when I first heard them years ago. I started making a list. It's a personal list, as I've only heard a fraction of the music out there (I wonder what fraction, heh).

Of the top of my head:

• Lauryn Hill: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - At first, I didn't really like many of the songs on this album, although I could tell that it was good. 10 years or so later I've realized that there is no flaw on this album. Magnificent.
  
• Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes - a beautiful album that still resonates with me today.
  
• The Cranberries: No Need to Argue - this captured my college angst (although it was much lighter than angst). I still love it. Speaking of which, I need to check out O'Riordan's new album.
  

I'm not sure about these albums:

• U2 - the Joshua Tree - I actually don't own this one so I can't judge it.
  
• Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstasy - I loved this album, but it doesn't hold much for me now.

edit: I changed the title of this post because I was misusing the word "seminal."

All my lipsticks are from different makeup lines

All except two lipsticks, actually. This has the advantage that I don't need to read the label to know what color is inside. Very convenient, now that I think about it. I will continue this fortuitous coincidence. Gloss usually comes in translucent or clear containers so there isn't the same issue of wondering what color a product is.

while I procrastinate

As a reward for passing my Java test, I opened up my new Bloom lipstick Indulge. It's a warm pink on me with a touch of frost but very wearable. It's not as orange as I thought it would be. I think it'll be a very nice color for summer. Good for work. As usual, very emollient and soothing on. I love Bloom's lip products.

I need to go check out madebyblog. Very behind on all the blogs!

Current staples

It can take a while to work out whether I like a product or not. They're often more complex than immediately apparent.

My current favorites are

• Lipgloss: Bloom lip gloss is my undisputed favorite at the moment. Giorgio Armani lipshimmer is prettier (it sparkles!), but Bloom feels better.
• Mascara: Opera MyLash; a lot of Japanese mascaras are wonderfully smudge-free and MyLash is a moderately priced (about 1000 yen) non-fiber mascara with good lengthening and darkening properties, and some ability to thicken lashes. The formula is pretty light and not watery or goopy.
• Nail polish: Mavala Ottoman; a shimmery bright red. Not a true red, it has a bit of a fuschia tinge with one coat, but two coats gives a lovely, bright, rich red. Reds and burgundies look fantastic on my toes. I don't wear anything on my fingernails because my nails feel like they can't breathe with nailpolish. My toenails don't have any objections. I love the tiny 5ml size. I've never used up a polish in my life, so with Mavala and mini Bourjois, I can stick to small sizes from now on. Ettusais has a charming summer collection of small polishes too.
• Eye shadow: Inoui ID and Majolica Majorca eye shadow; wonderful texture and fun, wearable colors. My brown Kate quad is lovely but the colors just aren't very exciting. My taupe Shu Uemura shadow has the most beautiful texture and shimmer but the color closely approximates shadows on my skin. Not the most flattering effect on me; I'll have to try mixing it up with some other colors.
• Lipstick: I still love my Armanisilk, Dior Addict 2, and Shiseido lipsticks, but I get bored of lipstick colors pretty quickly. I have to change it up more than once a week.
• Eyebrow color: Inoui ID eyebrow pencil. I need nothing more than this. Canmake's eyebrow powder duo is also very nice and creates a natural look.
  

I can live without everything else, although I wouldn't want to. I suppose I shouldn't buy makeup again for a year or two. Maybe even three years.

Jean Patou's Sublime is rather a comforting scent on me. Warm and close to the skin. It's rather similar to Ungaro's Desnuda on me. I wonder which I like better. At the moment I'm leaning towards Desnuda.

Elizabeth Arden's Iced Green Tea turns into something akin to astringent herbs on my skin. Not a particularly pleasant smell. Rather medicinal.

I love the hit of grapefruit in the opening of YSL In Love; the perfect slightly bitter scent of a cut grapefruit. It's pretty addictive. Too bad it's only the top notes of a limited edition fragrance. I no longer buy limited editions; at least not for personal use.

On Saturday I bought a nice rugged nylon bag for work - about messenger bag size, with a zip pocket and two magnetic snap enclosure pockets in front, a zip pocket on the back, and one zip pocket plus two open pockets inside. The color is not very exciting, an olive brown, but very functional and appropriately muted for work. Large enough to fit my textbooks and any documents I may be carrying around.

So, having just bought this bag (and retiring a similarly sized corduroy bag), I have zero need for another bag. However! Before I went on vacation I had been eyeing a sky blue nylon Mandarina Duck bag. It was sold out when I went to look again on Saturday, so I ended up buying the olive brown bag instead. The coveted blue bag is now back in stock so I'm going to take a look at it this weekend. In terms of shape, my brown bag is nicer, but the sky blue color and futuristic design of the Mandarina Duck bag make me covet it also. I will probably buy it, because I can't think of a reason not to. I've been looking for large bags for more than a year, so I buy them if I find them.

Ugh. I need to go donate some money. My materialism has been out of control this year! At least I'm sick of shopping right now.