This starts as a "How-To: wear dark lipstick" and turns into something rather different further on!
First of all, you're gonna need lipstick. It may be the traditional black, or it could be espresso, burgundy-red, grey, deep purple, or even navy blue. Exfoliating your lips helps the lippie to apply smoothly. You can buy lip scrubs from The Body Shop, or hit up some places online. Alternately, gently rub an old toothbrush or the edge of a towel over your lips. This will get rid of all the dead skin flakes. Apply lip balm, let it sink in for a minute or two – some highly pigmented lipsticks can be rather drying. Blot your lips with a tissue to remove excess balm.
Lipliner stops lipsticks from bleeding, giving you a messy mouth. Use a clear, nude, or coordinating color and carefully outline your lips. Apply the lipstick, straight from the tube, or using a lip brush for mega precision. Any mistakes can be fixed up with some makeup remover, or plain facial moisturiser on a cotton bud.
Now put on a cheeky smile and stride out that door!
I'm not giving you outfit tips, or suggestions on places and events that are 'appropriate' for dark-colored lipstick. This is because to me, my face is a canvas that I delight in using unusual colors, textures and shapes to express myself with. Of course, I don't always have the time or energy to spend hours in the morning blending and shading intricate and extravagant looks. Instead, I rely on quality products in unique shades to get that out-there, left-of-field effect.
I think that boys and men should be allowed to experiment with makeup without being ridiculed. I think that women and girls should wear blue lipstick and red eye-shadow (not necessarily together!) on the streets more often. I relish the stares that I get when I wear purple or navy lipstick out, or lime green, neon purple or sparkly yellow eye-shadow.
I don't think that make-up should be used to cover up 'flaws'. Everyone deserves to be comfortable in our own skin. Every girl and woman should be able to leave the house barefaced without feeling 'naked'. We should not be constrained by the clothing in mainstream shops and fashion magazines. We should not be defined by notions of 'beauty', 'talent' and 'success' shoved into our faces by the media.
I hope that one day it can be just nurses, not 'male nurse', police officers, not 'female policeman', and that there will be no further use for the terms sexist, misogynist and misandrist.
Just a crazy dream from a girl in royal blue lipstick.
Until next we meet,
Jade
Friday, April 9, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Where's the ____________ gone?
Any excuse for a Pirates of the Carribean reference! Never mind the really bad eggs, I have really bad ENDS right now.
My hair is combination – my scalp gets oily 2-3 days after being washes, but my ends get really dry and damaged. This causes my already riotously curly hair to frizz and frazzle. I have managed to find a fantastic (and ridiculously cheap) hairdresser, which is literally within walking distance from me, with wonderfully friendly and talented staff. There is really no reason why I shouldn't be able to go in for a trim every 6 weeks like it's recommended... but somehow it always ends up being 4-6 months between visits. Why?
Well, one possible explanation may have to do with the fact that I'm growing my hair out, and thus am reluctant to lose even a centimeter of hard-won length. But we all know that healthy hair grows faster, so whatever length I lose in a trim will be quickly regained, as my hair stops wasting effort on trying to repair split ends.
Time-wise? Calling and making an appointment, then the getting there, and the waiting to get it done... realistically, all of this together, even including the length of the actual appointment once I'm in the chair would barely even amount to 45 minutes taken out of my week.
So what is my problem?
Hold onto your socks, (non-existant) readers, I'm about to make a wild leap into cyber-space with a very eccentric analogy here... is my seeming apathy, and extended procrastination about my hair at all similar to the socio-political apathy and inactivity that plagues the Western world? Let me explain. We all know that our society is far from perfect. It only takes a few minutes' discussion to pinpoint some of the major issues in policy and convention. So if nobody's really happy with the way things are... why haven't they been changed yet?
Humans are creatures of habit. One of the biggest barriers to quitting smoking (besides combating the addiction to nicotine) is breaking the habits, and changing the behaviours that made smoking a part of your daily routine (or something you relied on in times of stress).
The longer I leave my hair untrimmed, the more damaged it gets, and the more I end up having to get chopped off when I finally go to the hairdresser. The socio-politic equivalent of this is sadly, millions of dollars being spend on new buildings, laws and programs bent on patching up the mess we've made. Homeless shelters, prisons, hospitals – these institutions are just a few of the areas that bear the brunt of our shortcomings. The longer we leave things as they are, the worse it gets. Even in such privileged countries as Australia suffer from high unemployment, national debt, hospital overcrowding, high suicide rates, sexism and racism in the workforce. What are we doing to change this?
Most people don't like change, even when they know it's going to be a 'good' change. They like the familiar, the known – things that are predictable. Change means uncertainty. Adapting. Learning, and sometimes forgetting things we learned before. It's uncomfortable. However change, like haircuts, is/are good for us. It's progress, growth and development, which should be encouraged.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to call my hairdresser...
Monday, April 5, 2010
Coffeeeee!
A vital part of every morning routine – unless you prefer tea. If you're one of 'those' people who don't drink hot beverages at all.... you have my sympathies.
Remember when coffee was cheap? Wasn't that great? It was about $5 for one of those mega-enormous-you'll-be-up-all-night cups, and $2-something for a little cup of one-shot. Nowadays it costs around $5 for a SMALL coffee! This is, however, the part where I get to be happy about a uni student – coffee on my campus is wonderfully cheap. Cost aside, buying coffee in 2010 is so much of a risk, it just about qualifies for insurance.
There's the Line Factor: how many people are waiting to order? How many people waiting for their coffee to be made? There's a nifty method that involves adding these two numbers, divided by the number of staff on the till and coffee machine, which has to be multiplied by a factor of three when that woman in the funny hat pays with two handfuls of loose change, which allows you to estimate the number of minutes you'll be waiting, but who actually wants to do maths before they've had coffee? (Crazy people and engineers, that's who.)
Then there's the Oops Factor, depending on how complicated your order is (and how busy the barista is). 'Large flat white' doesn't usually cause any problems, unless the cafe is out of milk or something wacky like that. 'Not-too-hot half-pump caramel quarter-pump vanilla foamy latte with skim'? Good luck with that! Do you know how many coffees the average barista turns out in a day? Trust me when I say 'a lot'. If your chosen cafe does iced coffees, milkshakes or frappes, those recipes are taking up room in the poor staffs' brains as well.
Tied in with the Opps Factor is the Yeuch Factor. Coffee making is most assuredly an Art. Getting it perfect every time in an atmosphere as hurried, noisy, hot and messy as the area around a coffee machine is (speaking from experience here) is quite complicated. A great cup of coffee depends on such factors as:
The Ow Factor: those flimsy paper cups only have to last for a single usage, then they go straight into the bin (hopefully the recycling bin). If your milk has been accidentally over-steamed and is too hot, it's not so pleasant for your fingers. Solution? Be wimpy and ask for 'not-too-hot' coffee, or get a reusable thermos. Coffee thermoses or flasks come in a variety of shapes, materials and colors. The most common travel mugs are usually made of a mixture of stainless steel or plastic and have a handy handle and has a lid which swivels closed when you aren't drinking, to prevent from spilling your coffee. If you're not keen on the idea of lugging said thermos around with you all day, you could opt for a coffee cosy (or 'cozy' is the American spelling). These are little knitted, felt or silicone sleeves that sit around your coffee cup, keeping the heat in the beverage and off your fingers. You can find them online, anywhere from $2-20 in price, in plain colors or with cutesy designs like bunnies, unicorns, or not-so-cute designs like Mario's face. Not that I don't think Mario's cute, he's just not quite as cute as bunnies.
The Fair Trade Factor: many industries source labor and parts from poorer overseas locations to get a better profit margin. This is all well and good(ish) until said companies actively start exploiting people because they're greedy. Coffee is a product which has, thankfully, delved head-first into the betterment of its practises, when it comes to its sourcing and production. The Fair Trade Coffee program focuses on giving fair pay and suitable working conditions to the often 3rd world countries which grow, harvest and roast their coffee beans.
Fair Trade Australia-NZ directory can be found here.
Until next we meet,
Jade
Remember when coffee was cheap? Wasn't that great? It was about $5 for one of those mega-enormous-you'll-be-up-all-night cups, and $2-something for a little cup of one-shot. Nowadays it costs around $5 for a SMALL coffee! This is, however, the part where I get to be happy about a uni student – coffee on my campus is wonderfully cheap. Cost aside, buying coffee in 2010 is so much of a risk, it just about qualifies for insurance.
There's the Line Factor: how many people are waiting to order? How many people waiting for their coffee to be made? There's a nifty method that involves adding these two numbers, divided by the number of staff on the till and coffee machine, which has to be multiplied by a factor of three when that woman in the funny hat pays with two handfuls of loose change, which allows you to estimate the number of minutes you'll be waiting, but who actually wants to do maths before they've had coffee? (Crazy people and engineers, that's who.)
Then there's the Oops Factor, depending on how complicated your order is (and how busy the barista is). 'Large flat white' doesn't usually cause any problems, unless the cafe is out of milk or something wacky like that. 'Not-too-hot half-pump caramel quarter-pump vanilla foamy latte with skim'? Good luck with that! Do you know how many coffees the average barista turns out in a day? Trust me when I say 'a lot'. If your chosen cafe does iced coffees, milkshakes or frappes, those recipes are taking up room in the poor staffs' brains as well.
Tied in with the Opps Factor is the Yeuch Factor. Coffee making is most assuredly an Art. Getting it perfect every time in an atmosphere as hurried, noisy, hot and messy as the area around a coffee machine is (speaking from experience here) is quite complicated. A great cup of coffee depends on such factors as:
- Bean origin
- Age of the beans
- How long the beans were roasted for
- How long ago the beans were ground
- How finely the beans were ground
- Length of drip time
- Cleanliness of the coffee machine
- Water temperature in the machine
- Length of time the coffee shot is sitting
- Milk temperature
- Milk steaming technique
- Additive quantity and quality (whether you use sugar, syrup or sweetener)
The Ow Factor: those flimsy paper cups only have to last for a single usage, then they go straight into the bin (hopefully the recycling bin). If your milk has been accidentally over-steamed and is too hot, it's not so pleasant for your fingers. Solution? Be wimpy and ask for 'not-too-hot' coffee, or get a reusable thermos. Coffee thermoses or flasks come in a variety of shapes, materials and colors. The most common travel mugs are usually made of a mixture of stainless steel or plastic and have a handy handle and has a lid which swivels closed when you aren't drinking, to prevent from spilling your coffee. If you're not keen on the idea of lugging said thermos around with you all day, you could opt for a coffee cosy (or 'cozy' is the American spelling). These are little knitted, felt or silicone sleeves that sit around your coffee cup, keeping the heat in the beverage and off your fingers. You can find them online, anywhere from $2-20 in price, in plain colors or with cutesy designs like bunnies, unicorns, or not-so-cute designs like Mario's face. Not that I don't think Mario's cute, he's just not quite as cute as bunnies.
The Fair Trade Factor: many industries source labor and parts from poorer overseas locations to get a better profit margin. This is all well and good(ish) until said companies actively start exploiting people because they're greedy. Coffee is a product which has, thankfully, delved head-first into the betterment of its practises, when it comes to its sourcing and production. The Fair Trade Coffee program focuses on giving fair pay and suitable working conditions to the often 3rd world countries which grow, harvest and roast their coffee beans.
Fair Trade Australia-NZ directory can be found here.
Until next we meet,
Jade
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
