layered

The recent wig preoccupation prompted a good question, something like: do you ever change up, you know, your real hair?

And the answer is…not recently. I was in an auto-pilot growing phase, I suppose.

But what a good idea!

So, I hacked at the previous situation (which was nearly all one length with minor shaping) a bit, adding some rounding layers, until I got this:

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I essentially wanted the widest part of my hair to line up with the highest part of my cheekbone. Or, ideally, with the intersecting point of the eyebrow latitude line and an imaginary line that is the continuation of the upward sweep of the cheekbone. Right around there.

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Nailed it.

My face is basically square, or like a pentagon, and it’s large. Somehow my instinct is to have large, round* hair, to put the hair in proportion to the face. This (or a little bigger than this, actually) is the ratio that seems natural, harmonious, and to slick the hair back is to introduce severity via disproportion. Seems like we must all have some sense of this point of harmony, a point where you stop blow-drying or cutting or what have you, and decide it’s just right (or you don’t stop, and regret).

*I kind of like it as an offset pentagon, actually, I realize! The hair is a little boxy as well, but in a way that doesn’t line up with the face. If you follow… I like the squareness of my face, and don’t feel an urge to soften it as one might see in diagrams of hairstyles for different face shapes or something.

On another note, let’s give a shout out to purple eye makeup. This is basically…every purple product I own in a big smudgy mess. Recommended. The key is to keep smudging the color lower than seems advisable. Keep going! This is even conservative. And then I should have blended with a bronzer-type shade to make it even more sultry and massive…but one runs out of time.

Purple looks good on every eye color, though. Especially brown, I think. Certain shades of purple make me long for brown eyes.

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Pearls of Joy Tahitian pendant, Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution lipstick in Love Liberty (love this shade and formula, more on these later – FINALLY available in the U.S. but only for one month evidently).

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the knee socks

What is not to love about knee socks? So sporty and unexpected. So sleek and practical.

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I especially like them with short shorts (or, here, briefs), so they can highlight a maximal expanse of thigh. Of course they highlight the knee as well, that bizarre, oft-ignored component of anatomy, making them completely distinct in silhouette from their close cousin, the thigh-high. I slightly prefer the knee-high length, perhaps because my legs are not especially long (not short, not long) and there is a lengthening effect on the upper leg joint when it is isolated from hip to knee. That and I just like them. [And I’ve watched a few too many kpop videos.]

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They keep your legs warm, too. Sadly still relevant here in Cambridge.

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Old Navy sweatshirt, Commando cotton briefs, American Apparel knee socks. On the lips: MAC lip pencil in Brick and NARS Velvet Matte lipstick in Terre de Feu.

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Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. I was on vacation in San Francisco the week before last and sick last week. Hope to get back on schedule soon!

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