'My Boss Told Me My Hair and Makeup Were Holding Me Back' Jezebel.com

I realize in probably the "real world" this is absolutely true. I just can't relate; I've always avoided, or chosen, another path. Fortunately, where I live, combined with the job I have -- and the union -- I'm kept from ever having to experience this total bizarre bullshit. Also, I'm close to retirement and don't give a damn.

Rosalind Russell, His Girl Friday 1940

In many ways what Jezebel went through is for the reasons stated: getting ahead, and the corporate world rewards those who look the part. But another part of this is simply the game of control. I've had crummy jobs that paid minium wage or less, if you were in the food industry, since tips were considered part of your wages. I worked in places that held inspections. One chain restuaurant had us -- adults, mind you, -- line up while a female corporate executive walked up and down, making the most personal and rudest of comments about our hair, faces, looks, size, breasts, jewelry, make-up, you name it. I was told once by a male boss to "wear a bra" -- I was! -- and from then on he made it a point to have me stand off in a corner while he looked at my chest for five mintues to make sure I was wearing a bra. Oh I could go on but you get the picture.

My Boss Told Me My Hair and Makeup Were Holding Me Back

Classic Taylor

"Nobody tells me who to love, or not to love, who to be seen with and who not to be seen with" ~ Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor Passes

I was sad to read this morning that the last great STAR of the screen, Elizabeth Taylor, has passed away due to heart failure. Elizabeth appeared in so many dozens of great films; it's impossible to choose just one. But one role and movie I've always liked very much was Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Taylor's characterization of Maggie. I loved her combination of beauty and a sort of stubborn, fierce strength. Rest in peace, Ms. Taylor, thank you for all of your work and artistry through the years.

Strange Obsessions: Mother Forces 5 yr old to get brows waxed

 This is very sad; an obsessed and clearly disconnected woman forces her five year old daughter to get her brows waxed for an upcoming beauty pageant. This clip is hard to watch; the child is crying and screaming. The mother doesn't care and says "They call them beauty pageants for a reason..." in defense of her actions.

Hair Rant

Well, I got my hair cut a week ago or so, and am still peeved. The woman that's cut my hair the past two or three times is good in some ways, I like her, but, she seems slow, and this last time, I had it. Each time I've gone she talked me out of what I wanted, saying how the length I wanted wasn't good for my face shape, and other things. Well, maybe so, but, it's my hair, my face, my money, and if that's what I want, that's what I want!

So she did pretty much what I wanted this last time, with the layers on top, but when I got home, I realized, it still wasn't what I wanted. And the length; still too long!!!

I didn't have a picture to show her, but still...

Why is that so damn hard to figure out?! I'm frustrated. So now, because I'm too wimpy to go back to her and anyway, don't want to go through the hassle, I need to find someone who's savvy.

Right now I look like a big dork.

Halloween Hair Prep!

Tomorrow my friend K.C. is cutting my hair.  I am pretty sure I am going have her dye it some shade of red -- whatever would come out lightest for my hair and then I am going to either have her add (if she has time) or I will add blond streaks through it.  I feel like a big change!  I have had such boring hair these past several years.  When I was younger I would always dye it funky colors like pink and blue, but not in recent years and I really miss it.

Now aside from that, I have all my witchy halloween make-up ready.  I will admit it -- I don't like being ugly for Halloween, so hopefully it is a sexy witch.  As soon as my hair is how I want it I will do a trial run of everything. :-))

Olay Site: Personal Care System

In my fifites, and I need help. I go to the magic facial cream aisle, and walk away without buying anything because I'm so confused and overwhelmed. So far, I've been using a daily mosturizer with sunscreen, exfoliant, facial cleansing soap at night, and whatever night creams my mother or girlfriends pass on to me. Oh, and I use the rolly ball thingie; the Garnier anti puff eye treatment, which is fun and it does seem to help.

Determined to go back into the confusing magic face cream realm and come away with at least a good firming wrinkle banishing (or at least, diminishing) face cream, I went to the Olay site. They have a nice system over there where you answer questions about your personal skin type, your style, your needs, and they make recommendations based on that. They've very aware of the overwhelm factor; for people like myself, with adult ADHD, it's very soothing. Calming background music, soothing female voice assuring you there's no pressure, lol.

So I came away with a "plan" and I'll report back on the results. I do like Olay products; I have sensitive skin and some brands I just can't tolerate but with Olay, I haven't had any problems.

For my particular style and needs, they recommend the Definity line.

Christmas @ Sephora

Every year for the past 3 or so, I have ordered special b-day gifts for myself at Sephora. The reason being is that I love the Christmas gift packages they sell. You can get larger than sample sized versions of stuff that you have wanted to try, but have not been willing to pay for a full sized version. Often you can get the entire gift set for what you would pay for 1 full sized item. I think this year was the best so far!

I bought the two Sephora gift samplers in the top photos. They have great stuff including such awesome brands as DuWop, NARS and Smashbox and most of the samples are nearly full sized. I couldn't resist the Bare Minerals extreme glitters either! Those are full sized and a great deal!

They also make great gifts if you know some make-up whores!

A Totally Girlie Day

Today was a totally girlie day, and it was great! My friend "Lola" who lives fifty miles from me, is a full time student, works, a mom and wife -- we don't get the chance to see each other like we used to. But today was a fun, totally girlie day. She was in town, visiting with a relative from out of state. Lola has been trying to get us to meet all these years, and I can see why; as soon as we met, it was like we've known each other forever.

So Lola gives me a call this morning, tells me they're getting pedicures at the mall, and for me to join them.

I've never had a pedicure! Not ever. I always thought they were too bourgeois or something. But I went and did it and got the manicure too. It was great! Soooooo relaxing. Now I'm hooked and plan on doing this all the time. Naturally we had to get more girlie and take pictures of our feet. (I'm the one with the green nails.) Then we had lunch. Then we browsed a few antique stores -- earrings and a Dean Koontz book -- and then we went back to the mall and shopped. Not only did I do something I've never done before; the pedicure, but bought a ridiculous pair of Fossil "Reesa" style sunglasses with rhinestones and metallic glittery things in the tortie frames for five bucks (usually retails around $35.00) I love them!

A perfect girlie day in every way; good friends, pretty feet, silly shades.

Commercial and Symbolism

Update: I'm not kidding, after I posted this, I turned off the computer, put it away, went back into the bedroom, turned on the TV, and a commericial was running, one I hadn't seen before. The commerical? Yes, that's right! This very one!

The Geekologie blog brings us this commerical clip for the Shick Quattro For Women TrimStyle with Bikini Trimmer. wQuestionable Women's Razor Commercial I'd say this was in your face heavy handed Freudian symbolism, but that could be taken the wrong way...

Moroccan Sunrise Palette

Probably I have written about my love of Sephora before, but I really do LOVE Sephora!

Last week I ordered the Moroccan Sunrise Palette, seen above. Not only do I love the colors, but the compact is made of actual metal with enamel and is even more lovely in person!

Strange thing is that we actually have a Sephora in town and it isn't very far from my house, but I still shop from the online catalog. However, I have decided that ordering online does not work for lipstick. I ordered what I thought was a light pink and it turned out to be a bright pink. I haven't tried it, but I am pretty sure it will look crappy on me.

Aside from the eye shadow and icky colored lipstick I ordered a bunch of lip glosses that were on sale and in vintage looking tins.

I loved those tins and can use them for various things even if I don't like the lip gloss, though, all the lip glosses were yummy!

My favorite thing that I bought on sale also contained lip gloss, but it is a larger case about 4" x 3" and has Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

Mostly silly things, but I liked them. They are fun and who doesn't love fun, especially when it is on sale?

Make-up whoredom

In preparation for splitting town for a mini vacation I stopped by one of my favorite online stores earlier -- Sephora. I needed more Dior show mascara and was too lazy to drive to the mall to get it. Of course, I ended up buying much more than just mascara.

I am kind of a make-up whore, which is weird if you consider that I rarely wear a lot of make up and often times none at all. Still I love trying new colors of eye shadow and lipstick.

It isn't just make-up I buy at Sephora though, I also like to try all kinds of lotions, scrubs, soaps and so on.

One of my favorite things to buy are the travel/gift packs. I like those because you get to try out a variety of products for the price you might spend for only 1 or 2 full sized product. As a result I have an entire drawer full of travel sized lotions, shampoos and so on.

I also have a fairly large box full of samples. Every time you order from Sephora you get to choose 3 free samples from a list of what is available. I am a member and actually get 4, the last one being what I call a super sample because they are bigger and nicer than most free samples. I think I have enough sample bottles of fragrance to last for the next 100 years. Again, it really makes no sense because I rarely wear fragrance and much of it just is thrown away when I discover that it makes me sneeze.

Girlie stuff that would be hard to live without

If I left on a spur of the moment vacation tomorrow, what are the girlie things I wouldn’t want to forget?

1. Dior Show Mascara in black
2. Smashbox eyeshadow in golden orchid
3. black kohl eyeliner almost any brand will do
4. Catwalk brand hair mousse
5. Lip balm -- preferably good old fashion Blistex in the tube
6. A travel sized jewelry box full of jewelry
7. Lots of body lotion -- I like lots of different kinds, but kind of prefer Burt Bees milk and honey lotion if I could only take one. I can put it on before sleep and the smell is nice for falling asleep.
8. H2O nightly oasis rejuvenating face cream

Probably lots more stuff I would like to remember, but those are the basics that I would really hate to forget.

Of Earrings and Shoes

I'm honored to post here on Lesley Machine Elf's blog. What a great idea! I love it.

So, what's girlie about me, even in my old doddering age? (54, hey, that's NOT old damnit!) Well, I hate sneakers, track shoes, atheletic shoes, -- just refuse to wear them. Almost refuse to wear them . . . I do end up wearing them at work now and then simply because the pain gets to me. I'm on my feet, off and on, for eight hours plus a day; I work in a school. So between walking the three thousand miles from my room in the back to the rest of the building, standing while teaching a group, supervising, etc. my feet take a real beating on the asphalt and linoleium. Add to that I'm carrying around too much weight, have an extremely weak and chronically painfull left ankle/foot (broke it three times, plus breaking the little toe, and the big toe, over the years) and arthritis in that knee, and some days I can barely walk. But I won't wear those horrible clunky shoes, simply refuse, until it gets so bad I put them on. I have good ones; a black pair of Nikes, a white pair, still, they're ugly. I have Dankso's and other good, expensive pairs but they're ugly too, not just as. Shallow, vain, and downright stupid, yes, of course. Totally girlie though.

Speaking of shoes, why are shoes almost always black or brown, or, white? Why not turquoise? Sometimes they're red. Boring! I like my shoes with color, lightweight but with tons of comfy comfy comfy support. Yes, I want it all. The ultimate shoe.

Earrings. I have way too many pairs, and sometimes wear more than one at a time. I love the big dangly types. I could be feeling like crap, no make up (which I don't often wear anyway, well, I do, all that Bare Mineral stuff, but I'm not into make up, just trying to cover up the lines and bags) wear slooppy baggy pants or what have you, but damn it, I'll be wearing my earrings!

The earrings shown here my mother gave me on my last birtday. She knows my taste! They're big, silly, glittery and dangly, but I love 'em.

Not even Pam is perfect

At least not without her make up.