Barbie Loves Frankie

It was a night she would hardly soon forget.  She had counted down the days on her wall calendar with red X's until the date finally arrived.  And now that it's here she could barely contain her excitement.  Ol' Blue Eyes himself had a concert date at the local theater and Barbie, determined to finally see her music idol in person, had a date with destiny.

And so with much fanfare, Frank Sinatra made his way on stage and quickly started serenading the frenzied crowd of teenaged girls with one of his most recent hits.  It was a song that was readily familiar to all the girls as they passionately mouthed along with the crooner, which was a good thing since with all the screaming you could barely make out a lick of the lyrics.

Success looked good on the skinny kid from Hoboken.  Decked out in his signature bow tie...

a houndstooth, single-breasted jacket with pocket square, wool V-neck sweater...

charcoal gray wool pants and wing-tipped Oxfords, Sinatra proved to be quite the Dapper Dan from the top of his head to the soles of his toes.

Then it happened.  About the third or so song in, that's when he noticed a young bobby-soxer swaying back and forth in perfect time with the melody.  When he smiled at her, she returned an even bigger smile back.  And with one swift motion, he stretched out his hand and gently pulled a bewildered Barbie on stage with him.

Well, she could hardly believe her fortune!  Here she was, Barbara Millicent Roberts, standing shoulder to shoulder with her music idol!  What should she do?  Gee willikers, what could she do but act as cool as she possibly could.

With her flipped pageboy held securely in place by a ribbon hairband and simple makeup, she was dressed in her bobby-soxer best, including simple pearl earrings and necklace...

pleated plaid skirt with matching jacket...

rolled down white bobby socks and brand new, scuff-free penny loafers, which she really wanted to jump out of due to the overwhelming excitement she was feeling.  But alas, she didn't want to appear to be a square, so she remained cool.

He continued to sing, looking intently in her eyes without breaking his stare.

And she continued to swoon.

He even offered her the mic so she could join along in part of the song, but being the shy teen she was, Barbie politely declined.

And so there she was, on stage with the one and only Frank Sinatra.  Instantly, she was the envy of every screaming, crying teenage girl that filled the venue that night...

and of every teenage girl that had the misfortune of missing the much anticipated concert and having to make do with reading about it and Barbie's exploits in the newspaper the next day instead.

"Gosh, what a night!" Barbie scrawled in her pink flowered diary. 

And underneath the textbook penmanship of that last entry, she took her ballpoint pen and drew a huge heart, which she then carefully wrote deep inside of it - "Barbie Loves Frankie".

Blue My Mind

I've done blue nails before, but this is a different shade of blue.  It's a bright, awesome lacquer that I added to my collection with no hesitation because, well... I just can't resist bold colors.   So, without further delay, let's chew the fat a little about OPI's Blue My Mind.

Blue My Mind is a deep, but bright royal blue.  It has a great glossy finish and applied without any bubbles or streaking.  In order to achieve opaque coverage, I did find that three coats were required.  After that, my vivid blue nails lasted pretty much the whole week on my busy hands.

This paired with a bright yellow or neon green accent nail (ring finger, perhaps) would look pretty cool, don't you think?  Or maybe an alabaster white with a few stones running down the middle... Or even a black and white zebra pattern would be dope...  Yesss...

So what do you think?  Yes?  No?  Would you rock an electric blue mani (or pedi) to round out the summer month?  Well, if you have an affinity for color like I do, I think this one may be right up your alley.

OPI Blue My Mind is available at Ulta and retails for $9. 

Backstage Pass To Gorgeous

With the bevy of scalloped rosettes enveloping its purple facade and six boss shadows nestled inside, it's no wonder why I am so enamored with this palette.  No bigger than the size of your hand, it is conveniently travel-sized to take with you anywhere.  Which is probably what you'll want to do once you get your hands on Stila's Backstage Eye Shadow Palette.

Backstage is a collection of six beautifully pigmented shadows that includes three neutrals and three jewel tones.  They are all buttery soft to the touch and can be used wet or dry.  All have the same finish, which is pearl.

Luster (left), Chiffon (right)

Going two-by-two across the palette, we have: Luster, which is a GORGEOUS golden-bronze with a purple shift, and Chiffon, which is a pearly peach.

Poetic (left), Flamingo (right)

Poetic (mauve) and Flamingo (fuchsia pink) are set in the middle.

Coal (left), Pacific (right)

Coal (dark teal) and Pacific (deep water blue) finish up the right-hand side.

Top row: Chiffon (L), Flamingo (M), Pacific (R)

Chiffon (top), Flamingo (middle), Pacific (bottom)

Luster (left), Poetic (middle), Coal (right)

Luster (top), Poetic (middle), Coal (bottom)

When I tell you guys that they colors are oh-so-pretty, please believe it.  And the colors were formulated and compiled so that one could create a whole new custom shade just by combining two or more of the colors together (e.g. Luster and Poetic mixed makes a mean shade of taupe!).  So, you're not only getting the six high-quality eyeshadows that you see, but way more.  It's truly a palette that gives you a veritable backstage pass to gorg that literally fits in the palm of your hand.  Talk about more bang for your buck...

Yes, please and thank you!

Stila Backstage Eye Shadow Palette can be found at beauty.com and retails for $28.

Lovely Lilac Lips

Lilac lips.  Doesn't that sound lovely?  To me, it sounds soft, summery and ultra-feminine.  Far from a pasty pastel, I found a ravishingly robust version of the color that just begs to be adorned at every opportune chance.  It's another beauty from Revlon simply named Lilac.

Lilac is a slightly smoky, pale violet with a modest kiss of pink.  It is from Revlon's Colorburst line of lipsticks and it completely delivers on everything the line claims: it's moisturizing and fully endowed with bold, long-lasting color.  It has a pearl finish.

Smooth in texture, soft on the lips and potently pigmented, Lilac glides on and stays on my lips for hours with small evidence of fading only after eating.  It is truly a wonderful shade to work with and even more satisfying to wear as it coolly complements many different skin tones without much manipulation. 

So there you have it - a lovely lilac for the lips.  So gorg.  So pretty.  And totally fabu!

Revlon Colorburst Lilac is available at a variety of drugstores as well as Target and Ulta, and retails for $8.

A Moveable Feast

Terrible.  Unruly.  Downright disrespectful.  This is how I would describe my eating habits this past weekend.  I mean, I was out of control, y'all.  Birthday Boy came to visit again and we took full advantage of the nice weather to do a little bit of catching up over a variety of tasty victuals and decadent confections.  Ahh, it was a glorious onslaught of ravenous indulgence!  I hadn't eaten like that in quite a while.

To start the weekend off, we went to one of my favorite restaurants - The Cheesecake Factory.  Now, I usually order the dish above, which is a Spicy Ahi Tempura Roll (YUM!), but Birthday Boy insisted that I try something different.  Meanwhile, he had never tried it so he ordered it for himself and then continued in taking the reins and ordered my dish.

My meal ended up being Steak Diane, which is a luscious serving of Angus steak medallions covered with black peppercorns, grilled onions and a mushroom wine sauce.  I almost didn't take a picture of it in time enough to include the whipped mashed potatoes that accompanied it as I was immediately on attack mode as soon as I laid eyes on it.  Needless to say, it was delicious!

The next day, perhaps inspired by his meal the night before, we went to a sushi spot downtown.  We shared between us the two dishes we ordered.  I cannot remember the names or type of sushi shown above, but it included a variety of eel, chicken and a California Roll with a healthy helping of Masago, or tiny fish roe.

I decided to order some type of roll with crab in it and topped with Masago (top row), and their version of a Spicy Tuna Tempura Roll (bottom row).  We both enjoyed the dishes and thought they were pretty good.

Later that night, we picked up a carrot cake that was so moist and so good that it would make you wanna holler and slap yo' mama!  (Not that I advocate violence against your parents or anything, but you get my drift.)  It was that good.

Oh!  And we had sausage pizza with mushrooms.  Oh!  And I can't forget the ice-cream and Oreos... and the Raisinets and Sweedish Fish (both candies).  And I gotta include the pancakes, sausage and large glasses of O.J. for breakfast!  And how could I possibly leave out the hunk of pineapple upside-down cheesecake with two huge squirts of whipped cream I demolished from The Cheesecake Factory?  Oh, the unmitigated gluttony!

And now that my partner in crime has returned home, it's just me alone who has to deal with remaining evidence of our obnoxious weekend behavior as there's still a full box of pizza and one-half of carrot cake left to be devoured.  While I admit it's a daunting task for a damsel such as myself to undertake... I think I'll be able to find it within myself to rise to the occasion and finish whatever leftovers are awaiting me in the fridge.  But please believe me when I tell you: this weekend's feasting was totally out of control, y'all.  Totally.

DDF Amplifying Elixir

Okay, I think I'm going to have to slow down on trying out new skin care products.  If curiosity truly killed the cat and a cat has nine lives then I must be on my eighth because this particular item just about did my skin in.  I got a maxi sample of DDF's Amplifying Elixir and was anxious (and curious) enough to try it, but quickly learned that this is not suitable for my skin at all.

Amplifying Elixir is a facial skin treatment that works in conjunction with your other skin care products to help boost hydration and improve their effectiveness.  In addition to strengthening the skin's moisture barrier, this botanically infused serum also boasts anti-aging properties.

The serum is clear, very thin (translation: runny) and has no discernible smell.  It spreads easily across the skin and is not sticky or tacky at all. 

So, two nights ago, I applied some of the Elixir to my face then followed with just a dab of my moisturizer (I didn't want to overdo it).  My face looked and felt good.  OK, good deal.  I brushed my teeth and went to bed.  But when I woke up... OH. EM. GEE.  The whole area underneath my eyes was puffed up and swollen, and I had little bumps sprouting out all over my forehead and cheeks!  I was a monster!!  Seriously, how can I properly convey this to y'all so y'all can understand the horror?  Lemme see... Have you guys ever heard of the movie Raging Bull with Robert DeNiro?  Google the poster.  That's EXACTLY what I looked like - no exaggerating.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  OH, THE HORROR!  And two days later?  The severity of my allergic reaction has subsided a smidgen; my eyes have gone down (thank you, Jesus!), but I still have the rash on my cheeks and forehead.  Thank God for bangs (or fringe for you chickadees residing across the pond).

Needless to say that after this experience I'm not exactly enthused to try anything else from them.  Now I know that DDF is well known for its skin care products and I'm not saying that they're a "bad" brand or anything like that.  I'm just saying that their one product, the Amplifying Elixir, is clearly not for me and I simply can't afford to gamble with the skin on my face and try another.

Has anyone else tried their products, especially this Elixir, and found success?  Anyone?