Every bird should get to fly

For anyone who doesn't live in Washington State, you should take a moment to watch this commercial. Both spiritual and uplifting, this ad for WA State Lottery created by Publicis in the West (one of the few larger agencies still pumping out great work) won the ADDY Award for 2009 Best in Show. Enjoy :)

Another Failed Experiment

Being of descent from a variety of races that boast dark features (French, Czech and Native American to name a few), I am constantly battling with unwanted dark hair. I tried Nad's when it first came out but realized I couldn't put myself through the pain nearly weekly to keep up with the growth of the hair on my arms. The wax certainly wasn't strong enough for my leg hair. I picked up a bottle of Jolen's, which is still sitting in my drawer. I fear that going from dark hair to bleach blonde will be a bit too much of a contrast against my skin.

I was curious when I saw the commercials for Smooth Away. I decided to try it out after reading a review in Glamour magazine (or was it InStyle?) that recommened it for use on arm hair.

The texture of the pads are very similar to a nail file, and that's what it smells like as you buff away your hair, and some skin. I saw no immediate results but after a few minutes of intensive swirling, I finally began to see the hair disappearing. I must say it did remove a great amount of hair from my arms, much easier than using a razor that is quickly clogged up. But I soon realized that there were some spots that would just not go away, no matter if I used the large or small pad (the box comes with both). Eventually I decided to just go over those spots with a razor, which left my skin raw in some places. I tried it out on my upper lip with the smaller pad and saw pretty good results there with minimal pain.

In the end, I will probably continue to use this product on my arms and face, but I was not as pleased with the results as I would have hoped. The amount of effort required to actual remove hair should lead this product to have a name like "Scrub Away".
*Note: I bought mine at Ace Hardware for $9.99 but it did not come with the lotion. Any lotion could work as a substitute.

Calling all Mad Ave worshippers!

Being that I'm majoring in advertising and have a love of fashion, its expected that I am a complete die-hard fan of Mad Men, the AMC drama about advertising agencies in the late 1950's. The name "Mad Men" comes from the start-up of advertising, real advertising, on Madison Avenue when men were the only ones who ran the biz. Those who have seen the show know what the women are often the ones pulling the strings.

So you can imagine my excitement when I saw an opportunity to appear on the show as a walk-on extra by entering a picture of your favorite 50's inspired outfit, a la Joan or Peggy. The show teamed up with Banana Republic to hype the premiere of Season 3, August 16th at 10 pm. All you have to do is go to BR and pick up a Mad Men-inspired style guide, and enter the code on their website along with your best outfit. Long live classic fashion!

Stocking Up

Currently I am isolated in the middle of fashion nowhere, otherwise known as Eastern Washington, but I will be headed back over to the westside in a week. While in college I have little time to seek out my favorite beauty products, let alone be able to find them for a reasonable price, so I always stock up when I'm back home. I've been doing my research so I'm prepared for the kamikazee shopping sprees I will be experiencing for the two weeks at home and one week in Cali! As you know, Cali means Carlsbad Premium Outlets, where I will be focusing on fashion rather than beauty products.

So here is the list of items I'm planning on picking up when I'm back home. Those with a star are items I currently use that I need to stock back up while I can. The others were chosen based on advice from InStyle or Glamour, my favorite fashion mags! Please weigh in if you have any personal experience with any of the below brands. I still have stubborn acne that I'm constantly fighting and always looking for new tips!

• Q-tips *A must-have!
  
• Sonia Kashuk Hairbrush
• Band-aid Friction Block
• Dove Gentle Exfoliating soap bars *
  
• Tweezerman Pedro Too callus remover
• Sally Hansen Salon Healing cuticle oil
• Neutrogena Deep Clean Gentle Scrub-(I used this a long time ago, it received top marks for oily skin exfoliators in the Glamour Beauty Buys)
  
• Olay Spa Exfoliating Ribbons
• Loofah *Bacteria builds up on these quickly!
  
• Neutrogena Fresh Cooling Body Mist Sunblock *
  
• Toner/astringent-Witch Hazel

Dream Closet

It's time for a closet makeover. Not that I have much to work with in a college apartment, but I am determined to revamp by closet for easy access. The overall goal is to make creating an outfit simple and successful. I've slowly been taking steps towards reaching this goal.
1. Take everything out.
2. Eliminate clothes that no longer fit, are irreparably damaged, or no longer fit my style. 3. Sort clothes into like type. (Pants, shirts, dresses, skirts, sweaters, casual t-shirts, sweats)
4. Catalog all items. I haven't decided how I will approach this. I've heard of writing out every item of clothing or taking photos of every item (several sites exist that will put cataloged items together into outfits). Currently I've been taking photos of complete outfits, although not aggressively.
5. Decide on methods of storage. Buy appropriate storage bins/hangers. I've heard velvet Huggable Hangers are ideal for creating closet space and safely storing clothes. In the long-term, plastic shoe boxes! I've starting holding on to designer shoe boxes for ideal storage. Even further I will look at actually organizing my jewelry.
6. Place items back into closet!

One day, I dream of a closet with ideas merged from these four closets. Top left is Ralph Lauren. Top right, Mariah Carey. Bottom right is from the former Domino magazine. Bottom left unknown.