All About Ombré

The other day, I went ombré.

See! Look! I did it!

I also spent two days trying to decide how I feel about it. I'd never gotten highlights or done anything besides dump a box of red hair dye on my head in college, so it was a bit of a shock. The wonderful Aura Friedman at the Serge Normant at John Frieda salon started the color higher up (just about even with my eye line) to accentuate the layers I hadn't previously appreciated or even really noticed. I love that the effect is really subtle, as we went with a chocolate-toned caramel color. Good to know: if you have dark hair and eyes as well as a warm skin tone, it's a safe rule of thumb to avoid going any lighter than the color of your eyes. Who knew?

What do you think? Would you go ombré? I'm just EXTREMELY relieved that it did not turn out looking like Miley Cyrus's dip-dye job..

After Hours

What do you do when you get home from work?

I always have high hopes for some sort of productivity, but these usually devolve into a grainy portrait of myself on the couch, where I cradle a pint of raspberry sorbet and think out loud in French between commercial breaks. And then it gets dark and I realize that I haven't turned on a single light. Obviously, I'm far too comfortable to rise and slap the light switch, so I sit in the dark until my stomach growls loudly enough to distract my attention from whatever I'm reading or watching. I then spend two hours cooking dinner and fifteen minutes eating it before I look up and realize that I'm pretty much ready for bed.

EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. Mostly.

Is this normal? Am I a hermit in the making? Is life eight hours of work and sometimes happy hour but mostly a steady, unadulterated sugar coma punctuated by the occasional sitcom marathon? Share your best piece of advice on how to spend after-work hours and I'll tell you where to find the best pint of chocolate gelato in NYC.

The Perfect Pout

What's your favorite shade of lipstick?

Lipstick is, by far, my favorite product to try; it has an immediate effect that brightens and energizes the entire face. Plus, since I dress fairly casually (read: like a schlub) most of the time, a swipe of lipstick is the easiest way to look pulled together and somewhat polished in less than five seconds.

As much as I would love to love pink lipstick, it just isn't happening. I'm so obsessed with the neon-bright hue of Giorgio Armani Sheer Lipstick in Pink 8 that I just keep it on my desk and play with it a few times a day. And then I cry. But orange-red shades just flatter my skin tone more, and because Tangerine Tango is Pantone's much-publicized Color of the Year for 2012, orange-red lipsticks keep rolling across my desk (and incidentally, into my purse)(and my desk drawers)(beauty editors are the original hoarders). All I wear is FACE Stockholm Cream Lipstick in Gladje and Laura Mercier Crème Lip Colour in Tangerine. Both are hydrating, flattering, and saturated with color.

I think a staple lipstick shade is so telling about one's personality, almost like how your favorite kind of chocolate reveals something about you (mine is milk with almonds, for the record). I found a deep purple lipstick by Dior that I just KNEW had to go to my best hipster friend, because she's the only one cool enough to pull it off. So which is your go-to shade? Pale pink? Dark, classic red? 

Photo courtesy of: Eva Green Love

In the Summer Sun

Do you tan?

This weekend, I read this article in Self magazine about three women who give up the tanning bed. I've always been fairly consistent with wearing sunscreen in the summer, but thanks to my job, I'm now positively manic about it. One woman in the article said that she would "reconsider salons" after learning about alternative ways to reap the (few) benefits of UV light, such as vitamin D and serotonin boosts. Yes, reconsidering the tanning salon might be a good idea.

I'm vigilant about slathering sunscreen on my face and neck every single morning (I like Mario Badescu Oil Free Moisturizer SPF 30 and SkinCeuticals Ultimate UV Defense SPF 30), but I do admit that I'm not as careful about the rest of my body—specifically arms, legs, and ears. Do you use sunscreen every single day? I'm always tempted to skip when it's cloudy, but I have it so grounded in my routine that I rarely do so.

But to be perfectly honest, the best part of wearing sunscreen? Smelling like you're at the beach when you're (sadly) nowhere near it.

Photos courtesy of: Maudelynn's Menagerie and Sun Dance, both via Modern Hepburn

A Toast to Lunch

I brown-bag my lunch to work every day; in the land of $10 salads, it's the most economical option. However, my daily tuna sandwiches have begun to taste like refrigerator—you know, that cold, one-dimensional flavor of absolutely nothing. 

Therefore, I love the idea of repurposing open-faced toasts as lunch sandwiches (after topping it with another slice of bread, of course). I want to try every single one of these:

I think the salmon toast and I would have a grand old time on my lunch hour. (Although Nutella and pear...that is just a work of genius.) Which is your favorite?

Photo courtesy of: Wit & Delight

New Space

I've been MIA, but not without a fairly good excuse: I've moved on short notice from a dark first-floor apartment to a little studio above Manhattan. The view is nice and all (also qualifies as fantastic), but it is nothing compared to finding the holy grail of NYC apartments: an ensuite washer and dryer. I used to drag my laundry upstate because I hated paying so much for it; I'm so excited about this that I've been doing laundry two, three times a week, full load or not.

However, I was a little apprehensive about living alone. This post from Joanna at Cup of Jo was so comforting (and fascinating), and to be honest, I'm already enjoying the abundance of alone time amid my books and magazines. Do you, or have you, ever lived alone? Did you like it?

From Madrid to Manhattan

I'm back!

And I have news. It's not the groundbreaking kind, don't worry. It's more of the I-didn't-buy-any-clothes-while-I-was-in-Spain kind, the not-even-from-Zara variety. I know. I'll give you a moment to collect yourself off the floor and settle back in your desk chair.

When I wasn't dropping euros on queso y jamon y calamari y the cheapest wine ever, I was spending them on hand-painted ceramic plates (and matching bowls). And serving spoons made of olive wood. It feels so nice to be buying things that I'll have forever and ever for my apartment, or until, at least, I break them. I have officially turned into my parents.

But it's so refreshing to be back in New York, the land of scallion cream cheese and That 70s Show. Photos from Madrid and Barcelona will definitely arrive shortly!

Photo courtesy of: Anthony Limas