Paraphernalia: New Victoriana Collection & Contest!
The lovely Miss Vanda has released her new Victoriana collection– a beautiful and lovely collection of ladies with a pearl adornment. To celebrate the release, she is having a bit of a contest!
On top of this, I’m launching the very first Paraphernalia competition! Write a short story (around a paragraph or two) for one (or several) of these ladies, and if yours is selected, not only will be featured in the product description and press releases of the collection (with full credit and link), you’ll also be able to win a $30 gift voucher for each of the stories that get selected!
To enter, leave a comment here, on my Flickr, or send me an e-mail to bonmots [at] paraphernalia [dot] nu. Entries close on Saturday the 6th, so be quick!
With five lovely ladies to choose from, I’m sure we can all think up a story (or five) to celebrate!
Interview: Xenia of Lime Crime Makeup
The lovely Xenia, tour de force behind Doe Deere, Doe Deere Blogazine, and the recently launched Lime Crime Makeup: So bright, it’s illegal! has taken a few minutes to talk about her new makeup line, her inspirations, and her future plans for world domination.
♥ You were very active with online make-up tutorials for years (that’s how I became such a fan of yours!) and you took a long hiatus from it. What prompted your return not only to the world of make-up tutorials, but also to expand it in to a freelance make-up artist job and to launch your own make-up company?
I posted my first tutorial in 2006. No one else was doing it at the time and it was a huge hit. I was producing one look per week and had many requests for more rolling in. But truth be told, I wasn’t sure what my next step should be. It sort of withered on the vine when I started recording the Doe Deere album. I took almost two years off. When I returned to the makeup scene in 2008, I found it to be quite different. Many new makeup artists were posting their tutorials - and not just with pictures, but also on YouTube! It was incredible how the idea of an online make up tutorial has evolved.
This time I knew exactly what I was going to do with it, however. I was going to launch my own makeup company. I was hoping it would be well-received since emails sort of never stopped. Even after 2 years of inactivity, I was still receiving several messages a day asking when I’ll start posting again. It was incredible, and encouraged me to make the jump.
♥ Without giving away too many secrets, what can you tell us about developing a make-up line? What sort of process did you have to go through, from conception to final product? What did you find the most challenging aspect of developing your own make-up line?
It all starts with the product, of course. Without a quality product, no matter how well-advertised, a brand will not go far. I researched companies who make similar stuff - Urban Decay, Too Faced, MAC - and decided that everything I produce must be of equal quality or a step above. I also did some research to determine my market. My customer is a late teens-early 30s female, usually artistically inclined, with a love for all things unorthodox. She loves bright colors and expresses herself fearlessly.
I designed the Lime Crime logo myself. Lime green against purple stripes - my favorite colors - became my signature palette. In the whole process, finding the right packaging was the hardest part; I’m still perfecting it. I want it to be functional, as well look good and represent my brand right.
♥ Who or what has been your biggest inspiration in developing Lime Crime products?
The fact that I couldn’t find any eyeshadow that was vibrant enough! Or long-lasting enough! Or easy enough to blend. I’ve always been attracted to colors that are super-saturated, but unfortunately (fortunately?) they were impossible to find. Being a makeup lover helped me find my niche tremendously, and continues helping me find more!
♥ What tips would you have for the young woman who loves make-up? Who wants to be a make-up artist? Who wants to develop her own line of make-up?
It’s the same advice for all three: just do it!
A young woman who is already into makeup doesn’t need my advice, which is: do what you love. Someone who wants to be a makeup artist should practice on everyone they know; but if they truly want to do this, chances are they are already doing it and don’t need me telling them to. A young enterpreneur should always do their research, observe how other companies do it and decipher why they are successful/unsuccessful.
♥ If you only had three of your Lime Crime products to last you the rest of your life, which three would it be?
Haha, good question! It would have to be my Foundation Primer, Lime Criminal eyeshadow and Finishing Pixie Dust!
♥ Will you write a short story, poem, or song about the type of person you’ve designed Lime Crime for?
I already did. I write short stories for pretty much every color in my collection, and this one’s a LIMErick for the Lime Criminal shadow:
A colorful girl from the city
Who wished to be ever so pretty
Wore her makeup so bright,
Lock her up you just might,
That colorful girl from the city!
♥ If you could create a custom make-up design for anyone in the world, who would it be? What would the look consist of?
I would love to do a Dior runway. I would go crazy with glitter, some kind of shimmery powder, and maybe glue a couple non-makeup things to their face.
♥ What are your plans for Lime Crime Makeup in 2009? What about your other projects (such as Doe Deere music and Doe Deere blogazine)? Do you have new plans for world domination in the works?
My plan is to grow Lime Crime Makeup as big as it will grow. Get it into some brick & mortar locations around the country and abroad. Invading the Russian market is also in the plans.
As for Doe Deere, I am taking a breather from that right now. I will always do music for fun, but at the moment my makeup line has taken the lead. It’s ok though, I’m very happy with the way it’s happened!
Thank you so much, Xenia, for the fantastic interview! To all my chers out there, are there any questions about Lime Crime makeup that you have for Xenia? Perhaps we can get a follow-up interview from this dashing gal!
And stay tuned– soon I’ll have a review of Lime Crime make-up and perhaps a tutorial of my own!
Etsy Designer: Steam Truck Studio
One of the downsides to many steampunk accessories is how repetitive the designs, elements, and motifs can become. I think that is why I find the designs at Steam Trunk Studio so refreshing. While many of the pieces contain old cogs and gears, the designer combines them with other delicate elements to create pieces that are feminine, fresh, and striking.
When I saw that the On the Wings of an Angel necklace had sold, I could only hope that it is on it’s way to my house as a Christmas present from my mother. Otherwise, I may indeed be heartbroken.
Other equally beautiful pieces include this Pirate’s Pleasure necklace, the Timepiece locket (which reminds me of the relic in an epic, fantastical journey film), and the Sunburst necklace. These Pieuvre earrings (French for octopus) remind me of my dear Miss Malaprop.
The sharp edges of the watch parts, combined with the delicate and bold beauty of the filigrees and charms make for such beautiful and unique pieces.
IFB: Links á la Mode
With the whirlwind of the holidays (and a mild case of food poisoning from road trip food), I’m back and ready to dive in to some great holiday reading! From the excitement I have to the new IFB newsletter to the dapper kid’s historical lesson on the impact of the Industrial Revolution on men’s tailoring (!!!) and the Coveted’s post on photographer Courtney Brooke (a new favorite of mine), there’s a lot to tide you over this holiday weekend.
For those in the U.S., enjoy, preferably with a big side of Thanksgiving leftovers!
- 39thandbroadway - Ever wonder where fashion trends come from and how they develop, long before they hit the stores?
- A Few Goody GumDrops - A Few Goody Gumdrops asks…Who needs a Mink Coat when you can have a Mink Bag!
- Being High Maintenance, not Bitchy - Being High Maintenance, not Bitchy gushes over Freeman’s Replenishing Body Lotion - the effective, but stinky moisturizer
- Capitola Girl Jewelry Blog - I’m saying no to gift cards this holiday season, and looking to the indie sellers on Etsy for some great guy gifts.
- Clutch 22 - Tackling Black Friday and Cyber Monday this holiday season.
- Couture Allure - Couture Allure shows how to dress up your holiday hairdo with vintage accessories.
- dapper kid - Essay on the impact of the Industrial Revolution on Men’s Tailoring.
- Diary of a Style Addict - Diary of a Style Addict Reviews Paint Cosmetics fab mineral eyeshadows
- Dirty Laundry - 37 Things to Love: The Definitive List (And How I Have Way Too Much Time)
- Dogmom’s Dish - Five little luxuries for the holidays, ranging from Free to Sugardaddy Suggestible.
- dramatis personae - Why Dieting is a Dirty Word
- fashion fille - What is YOUR opinion on the trendy scarf? Fashion Fille debates keffieyahs.
- fashion in my eyes - Love of a lifetime,Coco Rocha and Roberto Bolle
- Fashion Pulse Daily - We’ve got the skinny on the upcoming Target accessory designer collaborations — including Felix Rey!
- Flights of Fab Fashion Fancy - Wearing fur, faux and real, is sooo trendy hot! Here are hot looks from all over the globe!
- Hello, Lover… Shoe Daydreams - Recognize the things that trip your relationship up and keep you from having the “real” fairy tale.
- Independent Fashion Bloggers - IFB announces the new newsletter!
- Iole in fashion - Inverno a colori / Colored Winter
- Mademoiselle Robot - Outfit ideas for Thanksgiving.
- Pencil - a look at Suphanut Suwansanya’s, a London Fashion Designer, Autumn/Winter 08 collection and his inspiration.
- Petite Bourgeoisie - Interview with Kristen Calavas of TheLookbook
- Retro Chick - Putting on the Glitz, working your sequins for Work, Rest & Play
- ShopDiary - ShopDiary invites you to access chanel-exclusives.com, the first ever online Chanel boutique, and discover a limited edition selection of Chanel accessories.
- Shopping and Info - Shopping and Info found some amazing leather jackets and boots on sale for 50% off
- Some Like It Fashion - The shape of things to come: have your say on what ‘look’ will come to define this recession.
- Style Discovery - Style Discovery goes burlesque.
- Sweety P Style FIles - Since I haven’t been shopping in three months, I find myself in a wardrobe recession.
- Tainted & Sweet… - Thank you Daddy Karl!!!
- The Bare Skinny - Eco Friendly and Fabulous…Fashion Goes Green
- THE COVETED - Feathers, Lashes, and Courtney Brooke Hall… vintage fashion photography
- The Sunday Best - Contest on TheSundayBest! Big fun! Big prizes! Big…pandas?
- Your Style Star - Shop on Black Friday like a pro
The Dramatis Personae: Joan Holloway [Mad Men]
It’s quite possible that every fashion blog on the planet has covered the gals of Mad Men, particularly Joan. And frankly, I’m okay with that.
While I think that Miriam is who I’d most want to dress like, Joanie here captures most what I’d want to be (and look!) like. Joan’s got more curves than an interstate clover, and rather than hide a figure that would make Mae West blush, she flaunts all that she’s got. So the more Joanie I get, the happier I am.
I love that Joan has the perfect shade of copper hair, and instead of sticking to muted colors, she lights up the office in vibrant colors that perfectly complement and contrast with her hair…
Stealin’ Joan’s Style:
♥ Kiyonna’s Paris Prep Shirt Dress (+ Sized!)
♥ Igigi’s Georgia Two-in-One-Dress (+ Sized!)
♥ Lola dress
♥ Siren Dress
♥ 1960s Pink Shift Dress
♥ Black & Hot-Pink Garter Belt
♥ Avenue Back-seamed Stockings
And keep Joanie for yourself with What a Doll! - Joan paperdoll poster.
I know a number of you have done Joan posts as well– please share them in the comments so we can all feast upon her loveliness!
Why Dieting is a Dirty Word
I may not be healthy, but neither is she.
From questions of “Are you pregnant?” (no, I’m not) to “Are you REALLY going to eat that?” (why yes, yes I am), it’s no fun being fat. And sometimes it’s hard to love fashion, when “fashion is not for fatties.”
Since my childhood, weight has always been a constant struggle; from being a size 10 to upwards of an 18/20, vanity sizing has been both my friend and my foe. I know that I will never be waif thin or long and lean, and at the very least, I want to feel healthy & sexy in my body. Clothing companies aren’t going to make that easy on me, no matter what my size, so why should I?
Living in the Mid-West, particularly in a Big Ten College Town, leads to a lot of unhealthy eating (and a lot of watching the runners jog on by). Between the hurricane, a break-up, losing my regular workout routine, and an intense graduate school program, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t pack on the pounds.
And worse than packing on the pounds? Feeling my physical and mental health deteriorate through it all.
To try and rectify the past, and build up a healthier future, I’ve flirted with a Diet. But I think Dieting is a damned dirty word. It encourages us to think about our bodies in quantitative terms (the number of our weight, our BMI, the size of our pants) rather than qualitatively (how we feel, how we look, what our overall health is).
So I’ve been trying to think about my “Diet,” not so much as a Diet, but a Resolution for a Healthier Body.
The Faux Beau and I have been flirting with the South Beach Diet; during the Summer, we successfully managed to complete Phase I and move in to Phase 2. Then an onslaught of trips, VERY limited funds, and a shortened schedule made us slip up big time!
One of the most appealing aspects of the South Beach Diet is that it really isn’t so much of a diet at all. Rather, it seems to be a guide to healthy eating (specially for decreasing heart disease and cholestorol); it comes in many forms, and is similar to the Sonoma Diet. It encourages you to eat healthy fats and carbs, to decrease the processed foods in your diet, to break your addiction to artifical sugars and sweeteners. In short, it fills your body up with healthy proteins and fats, fiber, and natural sugars, while breaking your body’s dependency on foods with high glycemic indexes.
Many of the more satisfying aspects of the “Diet” include: eating until you fill full; allowing you to eat at restaurants (and offering suggestions of best options!); and a no-guilt policy towards days that you break it and holidays.
When it comes to food, I find that listening to our bodies is the most important thing we can do. When I do this, I am at a smaller size, yes, but I also have more energy and stamina. Instead of listening to the small voice in my head reminding me how good that double cheeseburger would be, or how the cheesey soup sounds better than the veggie filled one, I should listen to the other parts of my body too– my stomach, intestines, heart, and lungs. If my heart starts pounding at the sight of that cheeseburger, maybe I should pass it up in favor of a salad that won’t push my cholesterol up…
Does anyone else feel the pains and struggles of weight management? How do you cope with it? Are you restrictive of your diet at all? Do you find successes in “Diets,” whether its as simple as being a vegetarian or as complex as counting points?
I Love Someone Who Doesn’t Exist [Television Edition]
I have a confession to make:
I’m in love with men who don’t exist.
To really stay engaged and hooked in to a show, I have to have huge mushy girly raging crushes on at least one of the male characters. (Though in rare instances, such as The West Wing, I had raging crushes on a couple of the men.)
So in honor of Friday, the inability to think, I bring to you…
I Love Someone Who Doesn’t Exist…
Topping my list is the one and only Josh “Lemon” Lyman, the Jewish wisecracking workaholic from The West Wing. Of my many television crushes, I think Josh has been the longest lasting. From the sexual tension in his relationship with his assistant Donna, to getting shot in season 1, my affection for him knows no bounds.
Coming in at a very close second is the infamous Mr. Big from Sex and the City. While there are many men on SatC who are endearing in their own rights, it’s always been Mr. Big for me. And Mr. Big does some deplorable things throughout the series of the show, but his charm and genuine efforts (particularly in the last season) have always made him a man after my own heart. (That could also be my love of bad boys with hearts of gold.)
Speaking of bad boys with a heart of gold… how can I not love Dean Winchester, the hellbound hottie brought back to Earth by the forces of Heaven? A lover of cheap beer, cheap hotels, raunchy language, and porn, coupled with a dirty sense of humor and a heart melting smile, what isn’t there for me to love?
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is another show whose many men stole my heart. From Xander to Oz, and the deliciously devilish Spike, there’s many a man to love! However, I have to give this one to Giles. Seen as stuffy and old-fashioned his first few seasons, Giles quickly becomes one of the most intriguing characters on the show. A man willing to don facial hair to corduroy elbows on his blazers, a fatherly figure who has a personal life and yet, can still kill a man with his bare hands. Giles is the ultimate Renaissance man, when brawn and beauty and brains are rolled in to one.
A delivish wit, a mind sharper than a scalpel, political and sexual incorrectness, and an arrogance that puts Nero to shame. Let me introduce you to my lover, Dr. House. What’s most amazing above the aforementioned qualities, loved above his sneaker collection and rock t-shirts, is how much I would respect him if he actually were my doctor. Maybe this makes me a masochistic patient, but I’d willingly let House give me a shot of love.
Honorable Mentions: Seely Booth (Bones); Henry (Ugly Betty); Dexter Morgan (Dexter); Gordon Ramsay (he’s not fictional, but that’s okay); Sam Merlotte (TrueBlood).
How about you all, cher? Is there any fictional man who gets your blood hot and bothered?
Etsy & Indie Designer: Paraphernalia
It’s probably been several years at this point since I first came across Paraphernalia’s shop on Etsy. Chances are you’ve come across her work as well (or even own it!). It was love at first sight, I tell you. I’ve always been struck by the whimsical and occasionally ironic nature of herpieces, and my heart fluttered for the pieces in her Vignette Collection. It expanded and grew as she introduced lines like her Petit Nom Collection and her Wonderland Collection (glee!).
Ms. Vanda has been hard at work both on her Etsy shop and also her super sexy new Paraphernalia shoppe. It has delicious new lines like her Menagerie Collection and gorgeous new bracelets in her Fauna collection (*drooooooool*).
These are some of the tasty morsels haunting my shopping cart right now…
*Ahem* Afterall, who would I be if I DIDN’T take advantage of Alice in Wonderland goodies or collecting more secrets? (Psst… trading is optional in my mind!)
Not only is Ms. Vanda stylish, creative, and gorgeous, but she loves us here at Dramatis Personae! If you use the discount code YAYDM she’ll take 10% off your total (ad & code to your right). That easily covers your shipping costs.
Lotta Link Love! [November 13, 2008]
Good evening, my cher! It’s been a crazy week here in Mischief-land, and I’m missing my interactions with you all! (Currently, I am spending too much time with the printer & envelopes…)
Instead of my regular Thursday ramblings, I’ve got some great links to share with you gathered from around ye web…
♥ Links á la Mode! Though I didn’t participate this week, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check out some of the incredible posts that the Independent Fashion Bloggers have this week!
♥ Barackula the Musical. I haven’t had the time to watch the whole thing, but it’s amazing just for the concept alone! Thank you to LouLou for sharing (and while you’re at it, check out her FABULOUS new winter collection. It loves you).
♥ Forgot someone’s name? Ways around an embarrassing situation.
♥ And more on etiquette… Three Simple Tricks to Avoid Event Faux Pas.
♥ Blogonomics from my Arts Administration Department Head. I’m intrigued by the idea (especially from the economic standpoint) …
♥ Princess Poochie shares her thoughts on the Communication Background. How do we handle the tone and language used when companies approach bloggers?
♥ Amy Lau’s Dexter-inspired Dining Set.
♥ The DIY Lifestyle has become an ESSENTIAL life skill from Make Magazine.
♥ Burano Island (near Venice) is quite possibly my most perfect place in the world. Colorful and vibrant buildings combined with the architecture that makes Venice so unique. Perhaps this is where I will move next…
♥ The amazing artwork of Nikki Farquharson.
♥ My FAVORITE Sartorialist shots from the past few months…
The Dramatis Personae: Miriam [The Hunger, 1983]
If there’s only one character I could dress like for the remainder of my life, it would probably be Miriam from The Hunger. The lesbo-erotic vampire flick starring the ageless Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon has become a cult classic in its own right.
On her own, Catherine Deneueve is a timeless beauty, with a level of grace, poise, and ease that I’d strive to have but fail to accomplish. Couple these qualities with a modern but sexy 1940s/1980s styled wardrobe, and my heart beats profusely…
Do you Hunger for more?
♥ WAC Hat
♥ Ankh Necklace
♥ Cat’s Eye Sunglasses
♥ Leather Gloves with Rhinestones
