The Visa Diaries

It seems that the season has *finally* changed in New York. If we didn’t all believe in global warming already, the freakishly indian summer we were “enjoying” was seriously getting a little bit disconcerting (and making Al Gore’s Nobel Prize seem very timely). Plus I absolutely love the autumn, and have been feeling seriously short-changed on the whole crisp air, colorful leaf front. So it is with glee and delight that I took in the fresh, sunny fall weather this weekend.

I imagine that the retail industry also shared similar feelings of glee and delight, if perhaps for more cynical reasons – nothing like a change in seasons to bring shoppers out in droves. Each season has its associations of activities and moods, and each of course requires proper attire and accessories to really make one feel as if she is of the moment, properly autumnal, etc.

I am currently living on the upper west side of Manhattan (the “upper best” we like to call it), dog-sitting for my friend’s lovely German Shepard, Olso, while I get settled and find my own place in New York. Just a couple of blocks from me, there is a store called Loehmann’s, which you may or may not know as part of the TJMaxx, Centry 21, labels-for-less genre. I have to walk past Loehmann’s on my way to Fairway (”A Market Like No Other”… is that good??) to get food, and so this weekend I absent-mindedly wandered in. “Absent-mindedly” is of course nothing but an excuse… “Oh did I just happen to find myself in this store? in the changing room trying on some clothes? and they just happened to fit/ be cute/ a good price/ etc etc… how could I resist??” It takes all the blame away from me, displacing it onto that modern malady of being over-whelmed, unfocused, going with the flow… which inevitable leads to a cash register, somehow.

In this blameless state, I entered Loehmann’s with rather low expectations, envisioning picked over merch from second- or third-rate brands. Of which there was plenty – lots of crap. For this I was somewhat relieved, banking on crap to let me get out of there scott-free. I wasn’t counting on the gems. Those of you who know me know that I have a weakness for Marc Jacobs (despite his recent – or perpetual? – identity crisis), and my first definitely-not-crap find was a darling military-inspired jacket by him. With a new job, a smart-yet cool jacket-like thing in which to make presentations was just what I needed. Check – just like that, sale number one made and mentally rationalized.

Fortunately or not, depending on how you look at it, the not-crap did not end the jacket. Still umm-ing and ahh-ing as to whether I really needed that, but on the on the way to the register, I passed what was easily the best discount selection of coats I have ever seen. Seriously. Missoni, Ralph Lauren, See by Chloe, italian cashmere, and many more. Not cheap, but hundreds of their original prices. I paused and looked around, to see if anybody else had noticed. I felt like what I imagine the gold miners felt when they discovered a vein, in the middle of the wilderness, all alone, but other miners in the vicinity… I felt like I had discovered a secret that others would kill for. Very protective. Almost manic. Must claim my coat before others catch on…

Totally irrational of course. Nothing that is in plain view in Loehmann’s on the upper west side of New York City is a secret. But that is how it felt as I tried on coat after coat. Despite that fact that I have absolutely nowhere to wear such a thing, the pink woven Missoni with Maribou trim was a serious contender. It just felt like too good an opportunity to pass up…

In the end I got a hooded, tweed jacket form See by Chloe. It hits at the hip, with a sweet little pleat in back. I am into Chloe, definitely a brand aimed, yet “aspirational” for me. The jacket is so cute. Not exactly low-priced, but lower than normal. And that is obviously the secret, subliminal, genius marketing-nefariousness of Loehmanns… their name! They have disguised “low” as “loeh,” priming you to think it is going to be a bargain, even if you’re not sure here that thought came from. Very clever…

Well, hood-winked I may have been. But at least it was also hood-jacketed, and now I am ready for fall.

I have not been a very good blogger recently (if ever). Some of the things you are supposed to do as a blogger are: write short but regular posts, link to lots of other people’s blogs, and comment on other people’s blogs so they link back to you… generally be active and out there. I, on the other hand, am a hermit blogger, who occasionally comes out with an overly long post, but never really hangs out enough to become one of the bloggers-about-town. Alas.

In an effort to be more active and social as a blogger, I have asked my friend Carter to join me for the occasional guest-post (as occasional or frequent as she likes really). Carter and I were in grad school together. She is from Virginia, as she will most likely tell you herself, and thus infinitely more social than me, from New England. She is a good shopper too, and what do you know, studied a made-up major like culture-studies in college, so knows all about how to dissect her purchases for their hidden meaning with the best of ‘em.

So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I present the first work of the lovely, the scintillating, the beautiful, Miss Carter!!!

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I have recently moved to California. The process of moving to California has been ongoing for over a year. It began last summer when I lived in San Francisco temporarily and was waiting to finish graduate school to move back. In that final year of school, I stopped shopping. At least, I stopped shopping for all the things that I would not dare move across the country: drug store lip glosses, strappy sandals and skirts and summer dresses (of no use in this fog and wind), nail polishes, lotions (I must have a million bottles), shampoos, soaps, wine glasses, more books. In other words, anything heavy, low quality, breakable, or summer-like.

This meant that when I actually arrived in California, I had a lot to purchase. Which has been a fun, tedious process. It’s amazing how much stuff is required to live, especially considering the fact that I am diligently trying to limit the amount of stuff I buy. I am determined to not re-clutter my life considering the fact that I left a lot of it back on the East Coast.

In this, my first message on Kate’s site, I’d like to tell you about one of the most mind-blowing products I’ve purchased in the last couple months. It’s called Bare Escentuals Get Started Kit, and I bought it in the ‘light’ shade family.

Let me preface this Lovefest by saying this starter kit was not my first introduction to mineral make-up. A couple years ago, I purchased mineral blush and mica-infused mineral shadow at Whole Foods in my first attempt to convert my make-up to products with a lower toxicity level than my standard issue. These products were okay, but since I was applying them with my standard brushes, they often went onto my face too heavily. I rarely used them.

Then I got to SF, which has had an intense effect on my skin. Suddenly, my skin became about 10 times more oily and I needed to switch foundations and shampoos. I knew I wanted to buy decent products that weren’t completely carcinogenic, and my newfound job meant that $60 for four powders and three brushes no longer seemed too expensive (compared to my grad school budget, where this purchase would’ve been a week’s worth of food). I decided to take the plunge.

I wandered into the Sephora that is about 10 blocks from my house and picked up the starter kit, feeling slightly like I’d drunk the Kool-Aid and that I was a sucker for betting on this miracle box of goodies. I got home, opened the cardboard box to find one bottle of Skin Revver-Upper, a serum used to prep the skin for powder application, four loose mineral powders, one brush that resembles a blush brush, one stubby Kabuki brush, and one flat-headed, long-bristled brush for concealer application. I had figured that Bare Escentuals would not replace my Burt’s Bees waxy concealer, which I do still like. But I was wrong.

After getting out the powders and brushes and unwrapping their packaging (boo for plastic bags since the entire box was also shrink-wrapped), I opened the DVD with usage instructions. Here’s where the magic begins.

The DVD is amazing. It’s like watching an extended infomercial for Cindy Crawford’s make-up or Pro-Activ solution. It’s chock-full of soft lighting, fake novices, and new converts to Bare Escentuals. It’s like a pep rally for your make-up application, and it’s hosted by the founder of the company, which happens to be based in SF. Though I’m a little unnerved by how different she looks in the video compared to her picture on the box’s exterior, I watch.

I decide to do my make-up while I watch the DVD, and to do it without a mirror because I haven’t bought a handheld mirror yet in SF. Throughout the video, the mantra ’swirl and tap’ must be repeated a million times. And it’s a good thing, because it’s what makes this stuff so potent. So here I am, sitting on a bare wood floor, powders and brushes surrounding my 12″ and me, and I’m swirling and tapping away. I’m convinced that the make-up won’t really work since it’s just powder, not the crème powder I’m used to using. I go through two foundations: light and fairly light, using both the full coverage brush and the baby Kabuki brush. I then apply concealer using the light foundation powder and concealer brush. Then, I use the powder called ‘Warmth,’ which is like a bronzer or a blush, but not really either of those… imagine something that gives you a little life after applying a matte foundation. And finally, I use the all-over ‘Mineral Veil’ to finish my application.

And then I went to the mirror, expecting to see a face looking the same as before I watched the soft-lit DVD, before I saw the blonde and the brunette novices apply their own faces. And I was shocked at my own face. In fact, I’m still shocked each day as I apply this make-up. When the founder-woman of Bare Escentuals says that you won’t see make-up, you’ll just see coverage, she means it. It’s amazing. It also means that you won’t _feel_ make-up, which is really very exciting to me because I hate kissing boys and feeling like I have something on me that might come off on them. And I never realized it, but normal make-up also causes your face to feel heavier than I think this stuff does.

Once in front of the mirror, I do another cover-up application (the first didn’t provide enough coverage), and then I stare at myself, amazed that this powder has not covered my freckles where I don’t want them covered, but has camouflaged my broken capillaries, my uneven skin, the darkness under my eyes. I gather a new glass jar to hold my new brushes, and I put away the powders on their own little shelf in my cabinet.

Kids, I’ve officially drunk the Kool-Aid. I’d encourage you to do the same.