♥ i count your eyelashes, secretly. with every one i whisper i love you.

image via flickr.

we are always in search of that perfect something:

a magical wand or elixir that will

{voila!}
take us from mediocre

to maven in minutes.

some are seeking out the perfect pair of jeans-

a pair that will miraculously show off all the right curves and cover the wrong ones,

while others are looking for the perfect bag-

one that will hold everything (à la mary poppins)

and just happen to work with every outfit...

and then there are others like me, who are

always in hot pursuit of the perfect mascara:

one that will take my sorry excuse for eyelashes from 2 to 10

with one quick twirl of the brush.

basically, i am waiting for a miracle.

remember the scene in pretty woman (1990)

when julia roberts has all of this money

and no salesgirl to guide her in the right direction?

that is exactly how i feel every time i enter sephora.

i will pretty much buy any mascara that the sales people point to.

it's ridiculous.

the balm two.timer mascara

is one of my all.time favorites.

one side is twirly and makes eyelashes thicker and fuller

while the other side works like a fine.tooth comb.

double the pleasure, double the fun!

tarte lights, camera, lashes!

ok, so the rep was in from new york

and he must have noticed how vulnerable i was–

because as soon as he told me that this mascara was made from

all of these organic ingredients and that everyone in the store loved it..

i had to have it!

big mistake. it was flaky and dry.

should be called "dim bulb" instead.

shu uemura basic black mascara

have you ever had your eyelashes

kissed by an angel?

well, that is how it feels to use this ultra.light weight,

gorgeously natural mascara.

dior show mascara

ok guys, sometimes bigger really is better.

this is certainly the case for dior show,

whose mammoth brush will

knock your lashes out of the park.

imju fiberwig mascara + blinc kiss me mascara

basically, these two mascaras do the same thing:

they paint your lashes and form black tubes around each individual eye lash.

warning!! do not be alarmed when you take a shower and the tubes come off

and you are left covered in what looks like spider legs..

it is just the tubes releasing themselves from your lashes.

of the two, blinc is much better.

benefit get bent lash

i have seen many makeup artists bend their

brushes at an angle like this, perhaps to get at your eyelashes better.

this mascara is advertised as a "wonderbra" for the lashes.

i don't agree.

bare escentuals buxom mascara

i am currently using this faboo mascara

which comes with a fun tutorial on how to go about using the mascara.

(sometimes packaging is everything!)

but the product is very fresh and the brush is multi–faceted

enough to both thicken lashes and de–clump them

all at the same time.

ok,

so maybe there is no such thing as the perfect something–

but it can't hurt to look!

♥ to feel most beautifully alive means to be reading something beautiful.

images via flickr.

it is my belief that

there is nothing more glamorous

than being a well-read individual.

since i graduated from college,

 i have made a personal goal 

to read each + every book that strikes my fancy.

whether i hear about it on npr, or read about it on boldype

 i have an ever–growing pile of books that i add to more often than i deplete.

 i am on the constant lookout for the next life.altering novel,

and i truly believe that books are the very 

best accessory a glam girl could carry.

{apparently, so does caitlin at rebound.com,who had the novel idea

 of re.purposing old works into quirky new book.bags!

p.s. you can even send in your own book!! jenny linsky bag, here i come!!}

i often threaten my bestfriends that for my future bachelorette party,

all i want is a a bus that takes us to all the "hot used book spots!"

i am such a nerd. and i love it!

when i was a little girl, i used to have my father 

photocopy and enlarge my favorite r.l. stine fear street book covers to make posters. 

if only we had this site back then! (or internet for that matter!)

or how about making  those dust.collecting book piles go to work for you?

this funky invention, known as "the book stool"

allows you to strap together different configurations of books or magazines,

to make convenient side tables, stools or impromptu seating.

need a book recommendation?

check out the titles listed in my profile, or become my friend on goodreads.

happy reading!

♥ rock on, gold dust woman.

images from here.

quality cannot be defined.

you know what quality is.

it's the mysterious, individual,

internal goal of each

creative person.

zen + the art of motorcycle maintenance.

in today's culture we are constantly inundated with industry-manufactured mavens

who are churned out as quickly as simon cowell can clap his hands together

and forgotten just as quickly.

these empty vessels draped in a lot of glitz and glam may look good at first-

but they essentially stand for nothing

and will undoubtedly not stand the test of time.

it is no wonder that we are all starving for real quality.

it is not until recently that my unconscious appreciation for

the timeless music, style and the undeniable quality

that beats at the heart of stevie nicks

has really come into fruition.

she has been a musical mainstay in my family forever:

my uncle has worshipped her all his life and

was introduce me to her crystal visions with

my first fleetwood mac cassette tape in the early 80's!

and my mother has often cited stevie's soul-stirring lyrics

as the inspiration for her equally beautiful poetry.

and my friend, timothy, is just the male embodiment of stevie's magical presence.

balancing atop a pair of custom.made platform boots,

swathed in velvet and chiffon and dripping in feathers and beads,

stevie nicks is a fashion force to be reckoned with.

while singers like madonna changed their style with each new album,

stevie nicks never strayed from her tried and true look:

an ethereal mash.up of leather and lace

that has been replicated time and time again

but belongs to her

now and forever.

images from here.

recently, jill stuart dedicated her fall 2009 collection to

"all iconic women in music."

offering fashionistas everywhere a choice between

the pale, flowing, fringe and flower.bedazzled angel and

the smokey.eyed, leather/laced rock goddess,

jill stuart truly captured the

gypsy in stevie nicks

that remains.

images via style.com.

♥ in summer we can taste the rain.

so far, this summer has gotten off to a cloudy start.

with nothing but an endless mass of grey sky to look forward to,

one may easily forget what it's like to need sunglasses

or to feel the gentle kiss of the sun on our backs.

it is on gloomy days like this past week, that i have been tempted to dive

 head.first into one of my coffee table favorites:

massimo vitali's landscapes + figures.

for those of you who are not familiar with massimo vitali,

he is an italian photographer who got his start as a photojournalist in the 60's and 70's,

who worked as a cinematographer in the 80's and

returned to photography in the 90's with a combined sense

of using photography as art but also as a means of portraying italy's

"inner conditions and disturbances of normality,

it's cosmetic fakery, sexual innuendo, commodified leisure,

deluded sense of affluence and rigid conformism."

sitting atop a custom.made 30–foot perch,

massimo vitali focuses his camera (intended for large format film)

on a landscape of unassuming tourists and locals as they 

lather up, dive under, splash around, sprawl out, read, 

shade themselves under, play sports, and chit chat

at the beach in the height of summer.

utilizing a tiny aperture, fast shutter speed and tons of natural sun light,

vitali's camera captures still.life with pinpoint precision,

so not even the tiniest speck of sand is out of focus.

then, he enlarges these images to the size of a large mural,

so that when one stands away from it, they may take in 

the crisp and cohesive reality of an italian beach.scape,

or one may stand super close and enjoy a veritable where's waldo

of beach.goers and sun.bathers.

here are a few of my own massimo vitali inspired pictures:

so, if you are at a beach some time and you happen to see 

a girl pausing above you with a camera pointed,

don't stop what you're doing,

just go with the flow

and know

that you are just another part

of an artist's beautiful landscape.