House of Girl a place for my fellow beauty divas and domestic goddesses

There are two sides to nearly all yoga mats. Look carefully at the ‘bumps’ on each side of the mat. The larger bumps are designed to face upwards to cushion your hands, feet, and knees during poses while keeping your body from dangerously slipping out of alignment. The smaller bumps are designed to face downwards to grip the floor and keep the yoga mat from sliding. Many mats have a label on one end with the name of the brand. This is typically, but not always, located on the ‘up’ side. The bumps will tell you for sure.

Yoga mats come in three basic thicknesses. A 1/8″ thick mat is of average thickness. Mats that are half as thick (1/16″) are good for travel or placing under a thicker mat to provide more traction. The thick mats (3/16″) are about 50% thicker than average and are designed for those who need or want extra cushion. Nearly all of them are two feet wide, 24″ is the standard width, and 68″ long. If a mat is longer or wider than average it is usally specified.

A good yoga mat will increase in stickiness with use. (So do most mats.) They start out mildly sticky and increase in stickiness the more they are used. If you find yours decreasing in stickiness each time you pull it out, this is the typical sign that a light coating of dust or too much body sweat has accumulated on your mat and it needs a light hand washing with very diluted soap and water. After washing, dry your mat unrolled, inside, and away from sunlight. (Hanging over the shower bar works nicely.) Your mat probably came with specific instructions for care and use.

When you first unroll your mat you will find one end to be a bit curled. Simply alternate the direction you roll your mat (top outside once, then bottom outside next) or the end you start from (curled end once, flat end next time) and you’ll find it straightening out more or less over time.

I recommend buying your own yoga mat even if your yoga studio or gym provides them for you. I’ve worked in many studios and gyms over the years. Sometimes management has mats cleaned often, sometimes not. If you bring your own mat you always know where it’s been. Plus, owning your own mat may encourage you to begin valuable practice at home.

For my students who have trouble with their knees in some of the poses requiring the body weight to rest on a knee, I recommend temporarily folding over one end of the mat to get double cushion under the knee while still leaving one layer under the rest of the body. This saves you having to haul more than one mat out each time you practice which can be discouraging especially to the beginner.

In a pinch for time you run into a store to pick up another tube of your tried and true old friend [insert your favorite lipstick shade here] lipstick. Much to your surprise you’re told your favorite shade of lipstick, the one you’ve worn since high school, has been discontinued. Perhaps it’s the moisturizer you’ve been using for years; not only are you told it’s no longer available but something “new and improved” is suspiciously in its place. You never noticed anything wrong with the “old” version and exclaim out loud, “this always happens to me. As soon as I find something I like . . . it’s discontinued!”

I know it feels like it only happens to you but it happens to us all. The universal frustration of learning a trusted beauty product is no longer available and has been labeled with the dreaded “D” word is something every woman has experienced. Some companies use softer words now like “retired” instead of “discontinued” but whatever the name, the net effect for you as the consumer is still the same. You’re just not going to be able to get your Orange Dreamsicle lipstick here anymore.

What is a woman to do? Why do the cosmetic companies keep doing this to us!?! I know it feels like a personal attack but companies never discontinue products randomly. Although beauty ‘should’ be an industry designed for the perpetual happiness of it’s consumers, it is indeed a business. Great thought and care goes into the decision to discontinue manufacture of a cosmetic product or color. Some companies have a magic number that they use as a guide when tracking sales. A product could sell great at first but then slowly loose popularity over the years. If your lipstick, the most commonly discontinued product, falls below the ‘magic number’ for a company in sales, nationwide, for more than a year, it could come up for review.

Poor sales aren’t the only reason why products are sometimes discontinued. Here are some of the more common reasons:

It has gone out of style.
Blue eye shadow was popular in the 70’s and most women now associate it exclusively with that decade. Although blue eye shadow has experienced popularity surges over the years it has never been in quite the same iconic shade of periwinkle blue. Other less obvious colors have come and gone with fashion: the brighter than real life color shades of the 80’s, the dead looking brown-tinted shades of the early 90’s, the dark and purpley colors of the late 90’s (think Vamp by Chanel — not being discontinued as of posting), the color we’re just all so tired of seeing now but you are still wearing shade. Chances are that if you wore the color in high school and you’re now past your 30th birthday, you are long overdue for a fashion overhaul anyway.

You’re the only one who loved it.
A product or color may have sold very well in the South but saw mediocre sales in the rest of the country. A very trendy color may be popular in NY and LA botiques but sit in the drawers of stores everywhere else. A color’s popularity may be very limited and you’re one of the rare few who loved it. Sorry, it’s been discontinued.

Cosmetic technology has improved
Due to constant research and innovation spurred in large part by the aging of the Baby Boomer generation, and the multibillion dollar profitability of the cosmetics industry, great technological advances are made each year in cosmetic skin care. Twenty years ago, all a moisturizer had to do was moisturize. Now it has to correct the signs of aging, feed your skin with potent antioxidents, exfoliate, protect you from the aging rays of the sun and more. While your moisturizer may have been the epitome of technology five years ago, much like your laptop computer it is now obsolete as other newer formulated products with newer and better technology have come along to take it’s place. Don’t be afraid to try something new here. Because our skin changes in its moisture production throughout the year and in condition year by year, chances are your skin needs something different now anyway and you haven’t realized it yet. Let the consultant guide you to the product designed to replace the one you loved. Chances are you’ll discover a whole new level of performance for your skin.

It was always “Limited Edition.”
Chanel and Bobbi Brown immediately come to mind when I hear the words “Limited Edition.” Every season these two companies as well as many others stock their boutiques with special few-of-a-kind items only designed to be available “while supplies last.” Chanel customers are well used to this routine. As fashion trends change so quickly, these items are only designed to last as long as the trends that fuel them. All good Chanel customers know that if they want it, they better get it now before it’s gone. In the case of Bobbi Brown the items are usually her interpretation of this season’s runway trends and are only meant to be worn this year. When you run out of one of these items, you’re supposed to get excited about whatever is currently being offered as this season’s “Limited Edition.” While her ‘classic’ items are always offered, the Limited Edition items are supposed to help you get out of a makeup rut.
However, a company may have designed an item to be limited edition as a way to see how well a product is received before adding it to the regular line. Bobbi’s Shimmer Brick Compacts are an example of a recent Limited Edition Product that was so popular that not only was it kept but new colors were introduced. It is now a staple of the line.

They just need to make room for something new.
OK, there wasn’t exactly anything wrong with the product and sales were fine but the tester unit and drawers behind the counter are getting a bit crowded. With the launch of their new miracle cream, something, somewhere has got to go. Your product was it.

Companies have to keep up with the Jones’
One company launches a new style of product and suddenly the whole industry is revolutionized as other companies scramble to produce their own versions of the multimillion dollar selling product that’s taking away from their business. Your old version will quickly disappear as demand sharply drops off. When Revlon launched their ultra-matte, dry, forever wearing ColorStay lipstick, companies all over noticed a drop in sales of some of their lightweight lipsticks as customers demanded to know if their lipsticks lasted as long as ColorStay.

An ingredient in the product was banned for use in cosmetics by the FDA.
No one likes to talk about this one but it happens. Although cosmetic companies will NEVER tell you this is the reason why your favorite ‘miracle’ product has been discontinued, it certainly happens often enough to mention. In ongoing product and ingredient research, it is sometimes determined there are health risks associated with an ingredient in use in cosmetics. As the ingredient was key to the effectiveness or texture (just as important to consumers) of a product, it must be discontinued or reformulated without the banned ingredient. The FDA recently reclassified a preservative commonly used in cosmetics as for use in “rinse-off” products only. Products containing this preservative, including a popular eye cream on the market, were promptly yanked and in the case of the eye cream, no replacement was offered for a full year while the company scrambled to reformulate. If an eye shadow ingredient is determined to be a carcinogen (causes cancer) a company may decide to keep it in place while a new version is reformulated if the ingredient amount is so small as to not cause concern. Often, they don’t have this choice. Remember when we used to not have red colored M&M’s? A lab rat got some red lipstick on his teeth and developed cancer and all products containing the offensive red dye, including best-selling shades of lipstick and the aforementioned red M&Ms were promptly banned. Replacement red dyes have since been found and we now have ROYGBIV (sans the indigo) in our candy dishes and lots of red lipsticks in our cosmetic departments.

A product ingredient is no longer available or has become too expensive to keep the product affordable.
Due to climate changes, pollution of oceans, deforestation of the jungles, a bad crop year, or even political government overthrows, ingredients can go from abundant to hard to acquire to nonexistent. Worldwide ingredient availability can effect the availability of a product and may cause it to be discontinued. If an ingredient becomes hard to find, it’s price will go up accordingly due to the law of supply and demand. The new ingredient price may price the product out of the range for consumers of that line. You may love your moisturizer or favorite perfume, but would you still love it at double or triple the price? Most likely not. Sometimes a smaller company may make a product for the line of a larger company. If the smaller company goes out of business, the larger company may have to discontinue the product it made no matter how popular it was.

A whole family of products a company produces are turning the line’s sales figures from positive to negative.
Erno Laszlo has changed ownership often over the last three decades. When the company most recently changed hands, and a detailed company analysis was made, it was determined that the line could become profitable again if they would merely eliminate the flagging color line and concentrate solely on skin care. This huge change was touted as ‘getting back to our roots” and offering only skin care as Dr. Laszlo originally intended. However, if you loved a certain item form the color line, you were out of luck. Sometimes a company’s color and skin care both sell well but one part (skin care for oily skin, for example) consistently looses money. So the failing product line doesn’t bankrupt the whole company, these products must be eliminated so as to still be able to offer all the other products to the public.

A product ingredient or product has become un-PC.
LaPrairie used to have baby sheep’s placenta in most of their products. The ingredient was added as a potent anti-ager that helped to ‘revitalize’ the cells of the skin. For obvious reasons — PETA, pro-life groups, etc., the sheep’s placenta was long ago substituted for a mixture of marine extracts that are supposed to still have the same revitalizing effects. American sheep can now keep their placentas while European men and women are still injected with sheep’s placenta administered by the now nonaffiliated LaPrairie Spa in Switzerland.

The discontinuation of a product doesn’t have to be the end of the world for you. Coming soon I’ll post a strategy for you to follow if your favorite product is no longer available. Aceon

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Once when I had the honor of meeting the famous Makeup Artist Laura Mercier in person, I asked her what one beauty product she would want if stranded on a desert island. Without hesitation she replied in her beautiful, soft, and very French accent, “Foundation Primer, of course!” This left me curious as to how she chose one product so quickly out of the myriad in her arsenal. Most women choose lipstick, concealer, or mascara; why would Ms. Mercier choose a makeup prep step above all other products — something most women have never even heard of? “Even if you didn’t have foundation to put on top?” I cautiously countered, not wanting to insult her choice. “Of course, my Foundation Primer is more than just a primer. I wear it even when not wearing makeup at all,” she replied sweetly.

What is Foundation Primer?
Just as an artist woudn’t think of painting on an un-primed canvas, Laura Mercier’s Foundation Primer fills in the little lines and pores, evening the skin tone and texture for a more flawless finish to makeup. Foundation glides on the skin more easily and stays looking fresh longer by creating a silky barrier between skin and foundation. Ideal for all skin types, oilier skins will notice their foundation staying color true throughout the day [the darkening occurs when oils secreted by the skin mix with the makeup and give it a darker look] and are happy this oil-free and pigment-free Primer won’t add an extra layer to makeup. Drier skins will enjoy the benefit Foundation Primer has in sealing in the moisturizer so it won’t evaporate during the day keeping the face soft and radiant as well as preventing talc from drawing much needed oil from the skin. Foundation Primer also helps prevent skin from absorbing talc and pigment from your foundation — a boon to blemish-prone skin. Did I mention it extends makeup wear? I find I can apply my foundation with Foundation Primer underneath, teach my morning aerobics classes, and my makeup still looks fresh enough to work the rest of the day as a makeup artist under the intense scrutiny all my clients consciously or unconsciously give. Makeup even stays put in hot, humid weather! This product is an absolute must for all my brides.

How is Laura’s Foundation Primer more than just a primer?
Laura’s primer contains “unique light-reflecting ingredients” which create a “soft-focus appearance.” This soft focus causes fine lines and imperfections to smooth over as well as gives skin a soft, luminous, and healthy looking glow. Not just for under foundation, in fact Laura considers Foundation Primer a must for non-foundation wearers. The same soft focus appearance makes bare skin look beautiful and naturally flawless. Top with a little Loose Setting Powder and you have a smooth and luminous, beautiful and natural, barefaced look.

This Primer also has added skin care benefits to improve the skin’s appearance. Potent antioxidants Vitamins A, C, and E help protect skin from the harmful and dramatically aging effects of the environment.* Foundation Primer also contains botanicals such as lavender, orange, jasmine, rose, geranium, grape, kiwi and aloe extracts to soothe and refresh the skin. With all these great benefits, it’s no wonder Laura Mercier’s Foundation Primer is the best seller on the market — used even by loyal followers of other makeup lines. *[Foundation Primer does not contain sunscreen, however all of Laura’s daytime moisturizers have broad spectrum (UVA and UVB) protection in the form of titanium dioxide.]

It’s simple and easy to use:
Apply a liberal amount on clean skin, after moisturizer. With fingertips, massage all over face, including eyelids, lips and throat (those with sensitive eyes may wish to avoid the eye area). A large pea-sized amount, think garbanzo bean or chick pea, is all you need. If you find you require more, it may be an indication that your skin is dehydrated and you may need to up your moisturizer.

Laura Mercier’s #1 Top makeup Tip (from her web site):
“Place Foundation Primer in the refrigerator, the coolness is extra refreshing and helps reduce puffiness.” (This tip is especially pampering in the summertime.) “Take a few minutes to gently massage into the skin; a light massage is stimulating and healthy for the skin.”

A Powder to Lessen Eye Lines and Dark Shadows? Yes. Really.

Laura Mercier’s heavenly and lightweight Secret Brightening Powder makes your under eye area look bright and naturally radiant. If you suffer from chronic dark under eye circles like I do you’ll love how this powder weightlessly increases the coverage of under eye cover products while adding soft focus lightening and brightening. It helps concealer to dramatically reduce the appearance of dark under eye circles as it sets concealer to keep it in place all day!

Unlike other powders which can accentuate the look of dryness and lines in the eye area, Laura Mercier’s specially formulated under eye powder gives a soft focus to fine lines and minimizes imperfections. The powder is ground to the micronised level so it won’t settle in the fine lines to emphasize like other powders can so easily do.

Usage Instructions:
Keep in mind a little of this product goes a very long way. Pat powder lightly on the area of application without dragging or tugging across skin. Laura recommends using her Camouflage Powder Brush which I agree makes any powder applied in the eye area look softer and less heavy while guarenteeing a soft and even application. It helps you get just the right amount applied. Secret Brightening Powder is great under the eye where allergies, stress, and lack of sleep show up quickly. Ideally this is used to set Laura’s Secret Brightener (a lightening brush wand highlighter), Secret Concealer (Laura’s fantastic under eye concealer), and/or Secret Camouflage (Laura’s famous and award winning camouflage coverup.)

Remember, if you get enough of anything packed on in one spot it will show up so only use a little bit. I recommend tapping the above mentioned brush into the fine film of powder on the inside of the lid. [With the lid in place, tip the jar upside down and then right side up again. When you remove the lid you’ll notice a fine film of powder there.] Rarely do I need more than this. Even though the container is smaller than the average face powder, it has lasted me a very long time even with constant use. I also use it to set creme shadows and eye shadow bases with the end result being a very `clean’ eye look that resists creases. The silky texture also makes applying powder eye shadow a dream! As a makeup artist I’ve used this powder all around the eyes of women of a broad range of skin tones (from pale Irish to deep African American) and different ages (from teen to great grandma) all having varying degrees of lines, bags, and dark circles and still got the same fabulous results every time. Secret Brightening Powder is also appropriate for all skin types. It’s rare that one product works well on everyone.

Finer Points:
-Micronized Pigments provide a soft weightless texture that won’t settle into lines . . . really.
-Silicone Polymers provide an out of this world, slippy, silky feel.
-White Transparent Pigment offers an invisible lightening effect on the skin without the look of ashiness. The formulation is so sheer that it works on any and all skin tones. Instantly opens up your eyes.

Seeking Natural but Flawless? You’ve Just Found Your Match

If you only want a hit of color and a natural, lightweight amount of coverage, this is the foundation for you. This tint can be worn alone but it’s best over your existing moisturizer, especially if you have even a tiny bit of dryness (you don’t want your skin to be drinking in makeup, do you?) This moisturizing formula will hydrate, soften, and impart a very healthy looking glow to the skin. Tinted Moisturizer is a great choice for women who want to look natural but still have a few things to cover because the look and feel are sheer and lightweight but it provides light to medium coverage. SPF 20 is a nice addition to help protect the skin from both UVB rays as well as some UVA rays.* On the scale of Laura Mercier’s foundations, Tinted Moisturizer provides the lightest coverage. Yet despite being so lightweight in look and feel, Tinted Moisturizer is extremely long wearing, stays color true all day long (a boon to oily skins) and wears evenly.

More than just a makeup product, Laura’s Tinted Moisturizer has a special “antioxidant vitamin complex that acts as a free radical scavenger to protect skin from even the most aggressive effects of the environment.* ” Who hoo! Bonus!

Notes on shade choices:
Being that it is difficult to render color accurately on a computer for the purpose of color swatches, the following notes should help you select the appropriate shade of Tinted Moisturizer. If you already use one of Laura’s foundations and know the color name, I made note of the approximate color of Tint you would likely use.
-VERY FAIR skin tones or those who use Laura’s Foundation in colors Porcelain Ivory or Blush Ivory would use Tinted Moisturizer - PORCELAIN
-FAIR TO LIGHT skin tones or those who use Laura’s foundation in the color Warm Ivory would use Tinted Moisturizer - NUDE
-LIGHT TO MEDIUM skin tones or those who use Laura’s Foundation in colors Sunny Beige or Vanilla Beige would use Tinted Moisturizer - SAND
-MEDIUM skin with PINK TONES or those who use Laura’s Foundation in colors Shell Beige or Vanilla Beige would use Tinted Moisturizer - FAWN (note-this is not super pink)
-MEDIUM skin tones or those who use Laura’s Foundation in colors Golden Beige or Honey Beige would use Tinted Moisturizer - ALMOND
-MEDIUM to DARK skin tones or those who use Laura’s Foundation in colors Suntan Beige or Sunset Beige would use Tinted Moisturizer - TAN
-DARKER skin tones or those who use Laura’s Foundation in colors Toffee Bronze or Deep Bronze would use Tinted Moisturizer - WALNUT

It’s quite normal to fall between two shades due to the infinite variety of skin tones and tan variations throughout the year. If this is the case for you, Laura recommends mixing those two shades together to get the perfect, custom match. Many of her clients do this. You’ll only use about half the amount of each shade when you mix (therefore each tube lasts you twice as long) so over the space of a year you don’t end up spending any more money on foundation than you would if you only purchased one color. Plus you get the bonus of precision matched color. Also, most of us tend to darken a bit in the summer and lighten up a bit in the winter at which point you’ll have just the right shade at your fingertips. Another trick I like with Laura’s Tinted Moisturizer is mixing a little of it with my oil-free foundation to get a slightly more natural looking finish or to slightly lighten or darken the color here as well.

Easy to Use:
Apply after skincare/moisturizer, using a downward motion with fingertips or a sponge. The downward blending motion helps to keep the foundation from getting under the very tiny, and nearly microscopic hairs we all grow on our faces. A sponge will help you apply the product more evenly than using your fingers. Laura makes a fantastic and machine washable version.

Tinted Moisturizer can be worn with or without Laura’s famous, award winning, and best selling Foundation Primer underneath. An application of Foundation Primer first will naturally extend the wear of Tinted Moisturizer especially for oilier skins or all skins in warmer/humid months. If you prefer a soft/slightly moist finish, set the Tint with a small amount of Translucent Loose Powder by lightly tapping with the side of the Powder Brush. For a more matte finish, set Tinted Moisturizer with Translucent Loose Powder or Pressed Setting Powder (which provides more coverage than loose) using the Laura’s wonderful and machine washable Powder Puff.

*While being SPF 20 (refers to UVB only), the active ingredients Laura uses in her Tinted Moisturizers do provide a small amount of UVA protection yet are not completely broad spectrum. All of Laura’s daytime Moisturizers provide SPF 15 in the form of titanium dioxide which is fully UVB and UVA protective. As a professional, freelance makeup artist, this is my preferred route. UVA/UVB sunscreen in a foundation makes it much thicker and can give the color a slightly `off `or `whitish cast. UVA/UVB sunscreen also reflects light and this shows up in pictures as `ghost face’ — a horror for brides when they get their pictures back. Having sunscreen in your moisturizer won’t have this same effect because you top it with foundation or powder which keeps the reflection at bay.

“I soooooo want Angelina Jolie’s lips . . . ,” said the single girl to her friend.

It seems everyone wants to plump their lips now a days and new products are constantly entering the marketplace to help do the job. If you don’t want to go through painful and expensive collagen injections, how effective are the myriad of topical products on the shelves and how do they work?

The way lip plumpers work is the cinnamon oils and sometimes ginger contained in the ingredients are common irritants to the skin. This irritation is amplified when placed on one of the thinnest skinned, and most sensitive areas of your body — your lips. The resulting stinging sensation is your lip letting you know there is an irritant on your lips. Your body’s natural response to this irritant is to send extra blood to the area of irritation to try to protect it from harm. The extra blood flow in the lip area, due to the irritation, is what makes your lips appear ‘fuller.’ Most lip plumpers on the market today work to ‘plump’ your lips through this process of irritation.

This whole wonderful process of irritation –> ‘blood flow increase’ is a an event you’re already familiar with and usally try to avoid — inflamation. The Marketing term is “lip plumping.” The medical term is “inflammation.” Po-tAy-toe, po-ta’-tO; tO-mAy-toe, tO-mah-toe — you be the judge.

The more cinnamon oil a lip plumper contains, the more irritated your lips will become and the fuller they will look. Because some products contain a relatively large amount of the cinnamon oil as an ingredient, they will make your lips look fuller in addition to causing above average irritation for this product category. Because of the irritation and subsequent blood flow increase, your lips will also look darker. There is a reason why everyone is talking about this stuff . . . it works the best when it irritates the most. Try it if you want something that will really work, just be forewarned.

While topical lip plumpers do work to make your lips look slightly fuller, don’t expect a miracle here, lip plumpers containing cinnamon oil are not for everyone. DO NOT put them on a dry or sensitive lip or the sensation will move from irritation to pure pain. God forbid you get this stuff in a cold sore, split lip, or any other open mouth wound or you will want to slice your lips off. You may not realize you have tiny, dry cracks in your lips until this stuff gets in there. Ouch! I find this especially irritating in the corners of the mouth.

If your new lip look generates some amorous advances and you find yourself kissed, you will transfer all this wonderful stuff, and all the irritating side effects, to your kissing partner. Whoops! Your gig is up! The illusion of sexy sensuality will all be shot as your kisser declares, “What’s that!? My lips are burning! I think I’m allergic to you!” Angelina Jolie you are not.

The ones that work, hurt the most. It’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it.

When asked what she wore to bed, Marilyn Monroe famously replied “Only a few drops of No. 5 . . . .”

In the 1920s, the popular perfumes of the time were single flower scents like “Rose,” or “Jasmine” or “Lilly of the Valley.” The legendary designer Coco Chanel set out to create a perfume that would capture a woman’s personality in a way that a single flower scent never could and gave it a name, a package, and scent unlike anything experienced by the world. With a memory inducing aroma unlike any other before or since, Chanel No. 5 was one of the first scents to mix both raw natural scents with aldehydes or synthetic substitutes. This allows the perfumer to create scents never before experienced and not found in nature. Constructing No. 5 this way made the aroma unique and somewhat undefinable — both feminine and mysterious. It is a composite or abstract fragrance with no one single note stronger in the mix than the others. Because of this, Chanel No. 5 smells slightly different on each woman as her own unique personality is heightened as the fragrance makes its home. Even twins smell slightly different wearing No. 5.

The Chanel No. 5 packaging is instantly recognizable by its shape alone. Released in a time filled with ornate ornamental bottles, the No. 5 bottle was as revolutionary then as it remains timelessly modern today. The label and box are both simple and without color or ornamentation which only adds to its timeless appeal. This is a natural choice for the namesake perfume of the woman who made famous the essential “little black dress.”

Then there’s the name . . . sounding something closer to an ingredient in a chemistry set or a description in one of the popular catalogues of the time, Chanel gave her fragrance a name that eschewed all naming conventions. This played directly into her unique `launch strategy.’ Instead of the grand, multimillion dollar campaign blitzes of today, Chanel spritzed her perfume in the air of her boutiques and gave tiny bottles away as gifts to her best clients and friends. When they would ask what it was or where it came from, she would nonchalantly reply she’d “discovered it by chance at a little perfumers who’s name [she’d] forgotten” or that it was just “a little something she’d had made up as a gift.” When her clients asked for more to purchase she would innocently reply “But I don’t sell perfume, my dear!” Made popular by word-of-mouth and the exclusivity of the fact it could not be bought, soon clients began to demand that Chanel sell the fragrance. When demand reached the desired height, Chanel `granted” their wish. Of course, this was Chanel’s plan all along.

Chanel did everything her own way and created a unique bottle, packaging, name, and scent. In this way she made all other fragrances look old, dated, and even obsolete and set a standard so unique that no one since, even till today, can not emulate for fear of looking like a copy. She also is responsible for all those places, you know the ones, where we all dab our perfume. She famously told women to apply No. 5 anywhere they wanted to be kissed . . . .

“Because I love women, I wanted them to be comfortable in my clothes, to be able to drive a car. I wanted to create dresses that emphasized their femininity, that follow the shape of their body. When she is well-dressed, a woman is almost more naked than when she is undressed. I want to give her an artificial perfume, I mean artificial like a dress, in other words, created. I am a craftsman of couture. I don’t want roses or lilly of the valley, I want a perfume that is a composition.” — Mademoiselle Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel

Chanel No. 5’s mix of notes is so diverse and because no one single note is dominant, the fragrance smells simultaneously floral, fruity, warm and velvety, and just a little something undefinable. Although the perfume consists of more than just these plus large quantities of those mysterious aldehydes, here are the notes Chanel No. 5 is most famous for: Ylang-Ylang from the Comoros, Neroli (Seville Orange Blossom) from Grasse, exclusive Aldehydes, Grasse Jasmine, May Rose, Sandal from Mysore, Vetiver from Reunion, and Bourbon Vanilla. A “Eau de Toilette,” French for “toilet water” or “water of toiletries” is a watered down version of the pure fragrance. An Eau de Parfum is typically diluted with water to enable spritzing while an Eau de Toilette has been watered down and diluted with both water and alcohol to make the fragrance more economical for purchase. The high alcohol content is why all Eau de Toilettes have a strong alcohol like scent when sniffed directly from the bottle. One must try them on the skin to discern their true nature. Expect after spritzing to give the alcohol in an Eau de Toilette time to evaporate off the skin before the complex richness of the scent can be best discerned.

Hearing news reports that those who participated in the newly instituted early voting waited in line for 3 or more hours combined with reports of record new voter registration, I tried to use some reasoning to figure the best time to go vote today. Here is the equation I used:

People who take the time to vote are usually concerned citizens –> concerned citizens who participate in the political process usually work for a living –> most people who work have 9-to-5-ish type jobs –> 9-5ers would need to go vote early before work or vote after they get off –> some 9-5ers with politically-minded employers would be given 1/2 day off’s to go vote = vote at time > 9-5ers arrive at work but < time 1/2 day off-ers would arrive at polls. I left my house at 9:30 am.

After a brisk walk 5 short blocks, (Leonardo DiCaprio would be so proud I didn’t take my car!) I arrived at the Baptist church that serves as my polling location. The whole process from start to finish took a whole 15 minutes! I wore my “Boys are Smelly” T-shirt printed with a wide-eyed, pale-faced cartoon boy surrounded by ’smell’ lines and underscored with the words “boys are smelly” because I thought the juxtaposition would be humorous with the same person wearing a “boys are smelly” T-shirt and an “I Voted!” sticker. I also wore the new jeans I bought myself as an early birthday present and a pair of flip flops . . . .

I stood in a very short and quickly moving line behind a woman slightly younger than myself - wearing flip-flops, and in front of a man slightly older then me - not wearing flip flops. The poll worker who checked my name on the rolls had three gold-tone, jeweled rings on each finger of each hand including her thumb and four rings on her index fingers! So stylish! The right hand had a ‘red jewel’ theme and the left hand had a ‘diamond type jewel’ theme. She got a big kick out of my “Boys are Smelly” T-shirt and even read it out loud for her own amusement. Reading it in the form of a question, (Boys are smelly?) she gave a hearty laugh. “Mmmmm, child.” It was electronic voting this year so I was given instructions for using the computer.

When I finished voting, I picked up the aforementioned sticker and was on my way. Outside I passed three women wearing comfortable shoes who also gave my “boys are smelly” T-shirt admiring looks and walked home with the feeling that participating in the political process today was a small part of a very important idea.

Tomorrow I will vote in the Presidential election. It won’t be my first; thanks to my father I have a history of voting in local and national elections. My father is a huge political buff and figured out when I was very young that my birthday would fall a day before a Presidential election. (Yes, I am aware that this would precisely pinpoint my age which is the reason why I’m not saying which election was my first.) Dad told me when I was very young so I knew all along that I would be eligible to vote in a major election at barely 18 years of age. He also stressed the importance of being politically active. It’s a wonder he ever married my mother!

Registering was easy back then, though with the campaigns to promote the new “easy” ways to vote we have now, “Motor Voter,” for example, you’d think it used to be difficult. The summer of my 18th birthday I simply drove up to the local library and requested a form. The librarian had me present my driver’s license and then take an oath of some sort, I don’t remember what, it’s been a while. Come to think of it, it wasn’t so easy. At first she handed my license back to me and told me I wasn’t old enough to register; I had to be 18 and I was only 17 at the time. When I told her that I would turn 18 the day before the election she told me that I would have to register on my birthday, then. Knowing this to not be the case, my dad had prepped me in advance, I had her check the form. The eligibility section said something to the effect that one could register if one would turn 18 within 6 months. I was three months away from that date because I was hoping to register early enough to receive my voter registration card in the mail - which I carried in my wallet for some time after. After realizing her error, I was registered. Being that 18 year olds usually don’t come out in force to vote I’ll forgive her in this case.