Bare and Beautiful

I like a clean face.  Clean, moist and simple.  Maybe it is an aftershock (long felt) from wearing Chanel purple eyeshadow (the horror) from my lashes all the way to my eyebrows in the 80s when I was in  high school (yikes!  wish I had a photo but glad I do not: ) I do not wear much make up.  And even when I do wear make up, Cliff, my make up artist from Tom Ford for Met galas, etc... peers closely and intently into my face and wonders where exactly the "make up" is. 

But my bare faced 'make up' has been vindicated in the latest Celine ad campaign featuring a fetchingly beautiful and bare faced, Daria Werbowy...

so there! and be bare and beautiful, Juliana

My Hair at Michael Kors!

Okay, not literally my hair at Michael Kors but it could have been my hair at Michael Kors.  It was my I-took-a-shower-last-night-put-my-hair-in-a-braid-and-just-woke-up-hair.  So now, I feel like it won't look so accidental but like I did the whole thing on purpose!

love and kisses, Juliana

Fashion Will You Still Love Me, Will You Still Need Me When I'm 60: The Ellen Barkin Edition

"When people say, "you look great for your age.  I can't believe your 60!"  I'm like what about just, "you look great."

Ellen Barkin

Which is so true.  Why define beauty by age?  I am sure it is meant as a compliment but it is also a quantified beauty.  Sort of a, I know you are 60, but despite being 60, you still look amazing!  And so as I grow older, I don't want to hear, I thought you were so much younger, which I actually hear fairly often, I just want to hear, you look great!  

Ellen Barkin was interviewed for Violet Grey by Carole Radziwill and for the accompanying photos taken at the Carlyle Hotel, she asked that her photographs not be retouched and she even chopped off her hair into a Jean Seberg pixie-cut because she was tired of seeing older actresses hiding their faces behind hair. 

Ellen Barkin gives a lesson.  One being wash your face every night!

You can read the full article here.

love and kisses, Juliana

Fashion Will You Still Love Me, Will You Still Need Me When I'm 65? Part #8

I love The Row.  I never would have guessed, when I first heard that the Olsen sisters were designing a fashion collection, that I would want to wear it, would really love it and that the label would even last.  But it is the quiet elegance, the quiet wearability of their clothing that makes it a keeper.  It is not inexpensive so I try to load up on their tees and tanks when they go on sale.  The pants are just perfect... whether it is the leather leggings or my other favorite, the cropped stretch pant, that just slips on with a little flair.  So modern Jackie.  Great with a loafer, a short boot, a little sandal... 

But it not just the modern simplicity and wearability of their clothing that makes Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen so brilliant but the casting of their most recent pre-fall collection that is notably remarkable for two young women 27 years old. 

The Olsens cast Linda Rodin.  65 years old.  Ex model.  Creator of Olio Lusso (which I also love)!

Linda Rodin in The Row Pre-Fall 2014 collection.  Photos from Style.com

Linda Rodin's Olio Lusso in my salle de bain

love, kisses and vintage,  Juliana

Don't Break into a Sweat: Lafes Deodarant

Deodarant is a friend of vintage.  Vintage loves and thanks you for wearing a good deodorant that won't leave a nasty ring of perspiration on it, that won't leave a nasty shadow of white or that will not leave a nasty scent all of which will linger and fester in your closet turning your clothing into something less then desirable when it eventually becomes vintage.  

But most deodorants are a potential enemy to your body - they lull you into a false sense of comfort with their abilities to eradicate all signs of sweat and smell - but they do it with an ingredient that is potentially linked to Alzheimers and cancer - aluminum chloride - can anyone say au naturale fast enough?  

I have searched Whole Foods and the pharmacies of France and have never found the right product until now.  I tried crystallized mineral salt, Waleda, Dr Hauschka, tea tree oil... and then one day I bought Lafes at Pharmaca in the Pacific Palisades.  The packaging is not particularly glamorous looking but it would make Julia Roberts back in her under arm hair at the premiere of Notting Hill in 1999 days proud!  No nasties, no smell, no white shadows.  Your vintage and your body will thank you!

Lafes Deodarant available at Pharmaca here

"Feeling Strongly About Marlene Dietrich, Arched Eyebrows and Old Widows"

RARE vintage Beauty News

I love Emily Weiss's blog Into The Gloss.  It is all about beauty and stories.  It is really interesting how personal beauty products can be and that is one of the things I love about her blog; she just lets people ramble on about the things they use and love.  

The funny thing is that I am not really a make up person.  I don't wear a lot of it and I am not too experimental.  But I like the idea of getting inspired to try something new.  And it was from reading Into the Gloss that I discovered how brilliant Tom Ford's makeup line is (and it is nasty free: no parabens, etc).  But what I love are beauty products.  Now I use only organic products but I am always on the look out for the next great product that will combine nature and science.

Anyhoo, Emily just did a story on Jessica Noghes-Menio a student from Paris.  I think what first grabbed my attention was her vintage fur.  She looks super glamorous.  And she has a very personal vision of beauty.  

"My Dad is from Madagasgar, and my Mom is Italian.  I live between here (Paris) and London.  I like beauty that is very cinematic; I like it all looking very static.  I feel very strongly about Marlene Dietrich.  If there was someone I looked up to in terms of beauty aesthetics, it would have to be her.  For example right now I am really into arched eyebrows.  I'm quite an obsessive person and this is my latest obsession."

"I like a matte face, matte lipstick; I like it so the face looks very one-dimensional which is the opposite of what everyone else wants.  I like it looking very rigid."

"I read about Egyptian Magic on the internet, and then I couldn't find it anywhere, and they had it at this shop called Astier de Villatte.  I really like that shop.  I got my cutlery there, I got all my ceramics there and they had it and I thought this was a coincidence.  But somehow things always happen that way.  If you're looking for something, it will turn up one way or another."

When I was looking for a hair dresser in Paris my friend recommended Davis Mallett.  Initially I had copper hair when I went, and I wanted Givenchy red.  My grandma would tell me things she had done when she was young, during the war, with the lipstick they'd wear and how there was only one shade of hair color available because all the other ones were sold out, and they'd all have the same color where she lived.  I really like that, the idea of having a whole population of all the women with the same colored hair."

You can read the full story on Into The Gloss here.  All photos courtesy of Into The Gloss.  Jessica Noghes-Menio as told to Into The Gloss.

Pimp My Ride and My Nails

RARE vintage Beauty News...

So I was walking down the street one day and I saw this

and I thought: I would love to wear that exact color on my nails!  So I walked into the Mercedes-Benz dealership on Park Avenue and asked if they sold nail polish?  They looked at me like I was crazy and had security escort me out.  

But I could not stop obsessing over that color.  I called the Mercedes-Benz headquarters in Stuttgart and I asked, "Habt ihr nagellack?"  and they said, "Nein!"  And I heard klicken (click).   

I persevered and managed to get on the phone with Stephen Cannon, CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA by pretending to be the newest and first female host of Top Gear (I do a crazy good English accent.  Very posh.)   Before he could hang up I blurted out my whole idea.  And this is what happened:

Mercedes-Benz nail polish in Red Zircon - an original vehicle paint color.  There is also Silver Brocade and Metallic Blue.  You're welcome Mercedes-Benz!**

**Above story was a dramatization.  None of which actually occurred.  But that is a real polish and is a perfect red for this Prada shoe don't you think?!

Photo by Tommy Ton

Gone Baby Gone: Jane Iredale "ChocohoLICKS"

Because a girl can not live by vintage alone, I thought that it might be fun to share what to wear, what to use and whatever else I can think of that might be of interest to RARE vintage blog readers.

My name is Juliana and I am a chocoholick.  This is how it happened:

I have this little problem.  I really can't live without it.  I horde it.  I hide it.  I keep it tucked away in drawers, hidden in old bags, I take it out when no one is looking.  I swear that I will cut back.  But I just can't stop.  I need it.  Alright!  I have an addiction to lip balm.  There!  I've said it now excuse me while I go apply some more lip balm...

My favorite is Dr Hauschka's Lip Care Stick.  They claim that it is non habit forming but I know that they know, once you try it, you just won't be able to stop yourself from wanting it and using it all of the time!

Have you heard of enablers?  Well, a certain "enabler", who shall remain anonymous - not:  my mother!  Slipped me a little limited edition Jane Iredale ChocohoLICKS during Christmas.  It came packaged like a truffle from La Maison du Chocolat in a package of four: Truffle, Caramel, Chocolate Orange, and Strawberry Cream.  My mother said it is all natural, free of Parabens, not tested on animals, safe for sensitive skin.  They give a stain of color, a bit of moisturizing gloss and are magically delicious on the lips.   Enablers!  Always giving you what you want!  Now, I am completely addicted to the Caramel.  Is there a Caramelholicks Anonymous?

Jane Iredale Chocoholics

(definitely habit forming!)