Author: theseventhsphinx

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on the cheekbones: Estée Lauder Illuminating Powder Gelée

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This is what I got my cheekbones. The gold illuminator (‘Heat Wave’) from the 2013 Bronze Goddess collection. These collections collectively constitute my favorite thing EL does; love the fragrance oil and the liquid bronzer, too. Gorgeous products and packaging all around. Also Bronze Goddess is a brilliant name. I wouldn’t mind being a gold goddess, either, but ‘gold’ doesn’t have that z in it, like bronze does. Bronze is a lovely, elongated, luxurious word. And is it me or are EL’s compact mirrors especially large and nice?

At the Estée Lauder counter a saleswoman dusted it all over my face, creating the impression that I’d been clobbered by Midas. I was already planning to get it but still: SOLD.

This is not incredibly subtle* (though the shimmer particles are very fine they are also distinctly golden and almost holographic at some angles). This is not for the faint of heart.

*This is incredibly subtle.

This is for….me.

Actually I have a very specific use in mind for this. It’s an ingredient for a look I’m putting together, which look is coming together very nicely indeed.

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bikini of the day: sleek with leaves

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An old school triange-style offering from Victoria’s Secret*. This was something I saw and instantaneously liked, and instantaneously bought. If only all acquisitions were so straightforward and satisfying.

*I think most of their swimsuits are too much, if you know what I mean, but then I keep finding options I like, especially in the cache of retired suits.

This was a case, too, wherein I had this immediate vision of an outfit and a context for the piece. This top, a pair of loose white linen drawstring pants, leather sandals, standing on a dock or a pier of some kind in the late afternoon sun…

I’ll show you sometime.

Sticking that  metal tube around the string in the middle makes such a difference, somehow! Adds such sophistication, in its little way. The tapered triangles, too, rather than the standard tangle of strings, seem a bit more sleek and streamlined. I don’t know. The appeal of this bikini seems to me so obvious that it sounds kind of dumb to explain. I want to engage in casual yet elegant activities in this bikini.

When you go to take a photo of an item of clothing you really see how wrinkled it is, which is invariably more wrinkled than you thought. I’ve picked up a kind of fancy steamer to address this issue (not for bathing suits…for normal stuff). I have some pieces I avoid wearing because they are too much work to iron and not worth wearing if you don’t iron them. [Possibly I shouldn’t have gotten these things. Much better are the things that look good wrinkled.] While I can enjoy the domestic repetition of ironing, it is in many cases impracticable. So we’ll see if I stick to the plan of actually steaming clothes or just use it for cleaning the bathroom. I have great hopes of doing both.