Color Me Beautiful

Friends, in my search for new ways to put off doing my biostatistics homework, I stumbled upon the book "Color Me Beautiful" by Carole Jackson. It was apparently very popular in the 80s. This book does what is called "seasonal color anlysis." It breaks down people's complexions into a variety of seasons (four in the original, twelve in the updated version) and gives color palettes for each type that are supposed to enhance your appearance.

Cover of "Color Me Beautiful" by Carole Jackson.

Here is the basic method of figuring this out:

1) Do you look better in gold or silver? If you look better in gold your skin has warm undertones. If you look better in silver your skin has cool undertones.

2) Is your natural hair color dark or light for your ethnicity? Note the "for your ethnicity" part. One of the things people have said is that this system is for white people. Not so. You are not comparing your coloring to everyone - only to your own ethnic or racial group. So I'm comparing myself to other white folks (or other half Italian half French people if I meet any of them) and you should compare yourself to other people who are black, asian, latin@, or whatever ethnicity or race you are.

Using these two things, you've now got your season. I'm a summer, but I realize that determining this may be more difficult for some of you so I've added Disney princesses to help:

Cartoon of all of the Disney princesses posed together.

Winter - dark, cool. Snow White, Mulan, or Megara.
Spring - light, warm. Princess Jasmine, Belle, or Ariel.
Fall - dark, warm. Esmerelda or Pocahontas.
Summer - light, cool. Aurora, Cinderella, or Tiana.

Now, there are six secondary factors added in the updated version. Pick the one that is most dominant for your overall coloring. Here's the part where I can't decide. The secondary factors are:

Light - Your hair color and skin tone are both light for your ethnicity and your eyes are light blue, green, or grey. Summer or spring.

Dark - You have dark hair (black or very dark brown) and light to medium brown, green, or hazel eyes. Winter or fall.

Warm - Your overall coloring has an obvious warm undertone to it. Your hair is either strawberry blonde to auburn or golden blonde to brown and your eyes are deep brown, green, topaz, or hazel. Spring or fall.

Cool - Just the opposite of warm, your coloring has an underlying cool quality to it. Winter or summer.

Clear - Your overall coloring is high in contrast. Your hair is either very light or very dark and your eyes are bright blue or green, turquoise, amber, or topaz. Spring or winter.

Soft - Your overall coloring is low in contrast and close to neutral. Your skin and hair are similarly colored and your eyes are green, hazel, greyish blue, or brown. Summer or fall.

To complete your seasonal color analysis, you're supposed to combine your season with your secondary trait. I ganked this chart to help us visualize what we're working with:

Season wheel with the secondary traits mapped onto it.

At this point you are probably still lost. Or at least, I am still lost. So I looked up a bunch of celebrity examples. Most of these are white women.  Sorry! I tried :(

Cool Winter - Sasha Luss, Olivia Wild, Brooke Shields, Mila Kunis, Katherine Zeta Jones, Kristen Stewart

Deep Winter - Salma Hayek, Lucy Liu, Halle Berry, Michelle Obama, Naomi Campbell, Penelope Cruz, Michelle Williams, Johnny Depp, the Jonas brothers

Clear Winter - Courteney Cox, Zooey Deschanel, Katy Perry, Demi Moore, Liv Tyler, Vanessa Williams, Lupita Nyong'o, Zhang Ziyi, Kevin Brown, Romany Malco

Clear Spring - Emma Stone, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Heather Graham, Drew Barrymore, Britney Spears

Light Spring - Cameron Diaz, Kylie Minogue, Blake Lively, Renee Zellweger, Kate Hudson, Taylor Swift, Selita Ebanks, Kerry Washington, Owen Wilson, Alan Jackson

Warm Spring - Heidi Klum, Michelle Williams, Scarlett Johansson, Christina Hendricks, Ivanka Trump, Amy Adams, Conan O'Brien

Warm Fall - Lindsey Lohan, Julia Roberts, Beyonce, Olivia Palermo, Isla Fisher, Tilda Swinton

Deep Fall - Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Alba, Eva Mendez, Victoria Beckham, Sandra Bullock, Karina Smirnoff, Denzel Washington

Soft Fall - Nicole Richie, Gisele Bundchen, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Rachel Zoe, the Olsen twins, Mariah Carey, Rihanna, David Beckham, Justin Timberlake

Soft Summer -  Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kate Moss, Katie Holmes, Ashlee Simpson, Leona Lewis, Danielle Leonel, Adriana Lima, Jude Law

Light Summer - Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Amy Poehler, Heather Locklear, Grace Kelly, Leonardo Di Caprio

Cool Summer - Milla Jovovich, Elizabeth Hurley, Miranda Lambert, Ruth Wilson, Christy Brinkley, Kimberly Williams

As I said, I initially had trouble deciding between the three summer types for myself. I finally determined that soft summers are more monochromatic than I am - most of those celebrities have hair and skin tones that are very similar to one another. They are also supposed to look good in cocoa brown, which makes my skin look flat and dull. The cool summers are more um… cool? Their coloring is sharper than mine. And they are supposed to look good in mint green, which turns my skin zombie-colored. Light summers are supposed to be flattered by light pinky coral, which is a color I rarely wear because it's so feminine but that always garners complements. So after all of this extensive research, I've decided I'm a light summer. Looks like I'm in good - and mostly blonde - company.

For reference, here's me:

Me on an overcast day.

Me on a sunny day.

Still lost? Use the colors here to go rule out some seasons.

If you're a person of color and want exta help figuring this out, try the link here.

What do you think? Were you able to figure out your color palette? Does it seem accurate?

Drowning in Tulle and Feathers

As some of you already know, I'm planning to be a peacock for Halloween. Well, it's coming down to the wire on costume making. I've got a medium blue shirt, darker blue vest, and peacock-colored scarf to wear for the costume top. The big production is the bottom. I'm making a peacock colored tutuskirt with a bustle/train of peacock feathers. Or at least, that's what I'm attempting to make. I have full confidence in my tutu making abilities. It's the bustle that gives me pause.

Picture of my messy kitchen table with lots of tulle, my sewing machine,
hot glue gun, scissors, and peacock feathers.

Plan A - which turned out to be a dud - involved making a backwards apron of peacock fabric, sewing pony beads to it, and using a hot glue gun to stick a peacock feather in each bead. This method was tedius and messy. Worse yet, the final result was too sparse to make a proper bustle and the feathers would've gotten crushed whenever I tried to sit down. I suppose I should've photographed it as a "what not to do" but I did not so you'll just have to imagine it.

What's a queer to do? Enter Plan B. Look at these burlesque dancers. What do their outfits have in common (besides a distinct lack of fabric)?

                                

They all have feather boa bustles! That is my plan B. You may have noticed the black feather boa in the background of my cluttered table photo. I happen to have two of them so I am going to sacrifice one to the cause. Plan B is to use the same backwards apron idea with the peacock fabric as my base, but this time I will cut the boa into several pieces, attach the feather boa pieces to the fabric so they can swing about, and attach the peacock feathers to the boa. This should add the extra volume and flounce the my first attempt was lacking. I'll attach the whole thing to me via either elastic or ribbon. Probably ribbon since that way I can just untie it if I want to sit down unhindered. Though I'm hoping I won't have to take it off to sit. At any rate, it's a good thing I bought extra peacock feathers...

Peacock feathers.

What's your Halloween costume this year?

Funky Pant Cuffs

Friends, sometimes I see clothing and I say to myself "I could make that!" A while ago, I saw this picture on pinterest:

Then about a month ago I bought new pants. I intended to hem them but then I remembered that picture and decided to make a colorful cuff instead. Luckily I had some fun fabric lying around from another project. Look (sorry for the weird angle):

What do you think? I like it. Men's clothes are often boringly monochromatic but not my pants! And the newly hemmed pants go perfectly with my redish vegan docs and my this orange sweater I thrifted:

Friends, do you hem your own clothing? What are your opinions on colorfully cuffed pants?

Halloween Decorating!

It's that time of year. The time of year where I get super excited and buy lots of fake cobwebs. Today Plum, the kids, and I decorated the house for Halloween. Here's some of our handiwork (and the back of Terzo's head):

Happy Almost-Halloween!

The Making of a Zombie

Yesterday I promised to show how I made my zombie costume. I already gave the link for the tutorial I used (here it is again in case you forgot). The supplies I used to make my costume were:

tissues
liquid latex
spirit gum
red and black paint
old pink shirt I hated
fake blood
packet of plain white fake fingernails with glue
foundation
green eyeshadow
black eyeshadow
black eyeliner
scissors
conditioner
baby powder

The first step in costume making was to make the underpart of the zombie mask.  For this, I needed some help so I enlisted my friend Crane who was visiting from Colorado. We started by putting liquid latex on my face, followed by a layer of tissue, another layer of liquid latex, and so on. This made an incredibly stinky mask that was sort of like paper mache:

I had to wait for it to dry, which was kind of hilarious because I looked like a bizarre mummy. Then it was time to take the mask off. It felt like my skin was being slowly peeled away. Probably because it was - I felt very exfoliated by the time we were done:

After we peeled my face off, I let it dry. Then I added teeth! The teeth were made using some of the fake nails. I simply cut them into teeth shapes with the scissors and stuck them to the mask using spirit gum. I also built up a bit more liquid latex and tissue gums around them to secure them in place. I know zombies probably have rotting teeth but I wanted mine to stay in place… 

After that it was time to paint the mask. To do this, I borrowed red and black acrylic paints from my housemate Plum (also known as "mama" to the kiddos). 

I took a moment to tear some artfully placed holes in my pink t-shirt and then I let my paint job dry overnight. The next day after work, I met up with my friend Tea at her mother's house where she was babysitting her niece. I made the top layer of the mask, which meant I basically did the same mask creation technique all over again, only this time with less attention to detail. The idea was to make a skin-colored mask, rip the part around the mouth and nose, and then slip the first mask in beneath it so it looked like my flesh had been ripped to expose a bloody toothy mess. Here I am making mask #2:

You'll note that my hair looks horrible. I smeared it with conditioner for a greasy look and topped it and my skin off with baby powder to whiten it for that dead look. Here's a picture of me doing Tea's zombie bite wound. This is after I inserted my under-mask and before I put on foundation, zombie makeup, and fake blood. I look demonic already. Tea looks exactly like the unfortunate recently bitten nurse she is playing, complete with slight greening of the face (green eyeshadow) and circles around the eyes (black eyeshadow).

After this I covered my face (minus the inner red mask) with foundation, shaded my eyes with black eyeliner and eyeshadow, dusted my face with some strategically placed green eyeshadow for that sickly look, sprinkled on more baby powder for a washed out effect, and put on a bunch of fake blood for good measure. Below is the finished look. Hooray for zombies! Tea looks a little too happy here for someone who has just been attacked by a zombie:

Here she is trying to look terminally ill:

And here I am looking menacing: 

And lastly here is a photo with a good view of my fingernails. The fingernails are fake nails that I scratched up, covered with black eyeliner, cut to look chipped on the ends, and smeared with fake blood. 

Happy zombie apocalypse!!!

Zombies!!!

Friends, today my friend Tea took me to a zombie march. As you can imagine, I was beside myself with excitement and got way too into the costuming. The first thing I did was search online for zombie costume ideas. Fortunately I got lucky and stumbled upon this tutorial showing how to make a cheap mask othat looks like exposed teeth and a ripped off lower face. Here's the result:

Me in a zombie costume.

A photographic reveal of Tea's bitten face and details on the construction of my costume to come in my next post. Hint: I had help.

Spice Kit

Readers, today I received a present. In the mornings, I work as the personal care assistant for a fellow we'll call Texas. [He's actually from New Jersey - the pseudonym is based on a common mispronunciation of his name.] At any rate, Texas has a birthday tomorrow and today his parents came to visit - and they brought us presents too!

This tasty-looking fudge made by Texas' grandmother for me and Texas' other PCA, Magic (named for his hobby of playing "Magic the Gathering"):

And to top off my day of random presents, a new friend from India gave me: masoor dal, a couple packets of rasam mix, and most excitingly - a spice box! This friend is a wonderful cook and has promised to teach me how to make Indian food. To say I am excited about this would be a vast understatement.

Now I am off to spend the rest of my day making a zombie costume, walking a dog, and catching up with an old friend Crane who is visiting from Colorado. Huzzah!

Me and Crane. I'm the scrubby one in my pajamas and Crane is the one with the stuffed monkey. 

Secondo's Superhero Twirly Skirt

Friends, three of my housemates are children. Because they are children you may or may not see pictures of them on this blog and I've decided to give them the pseudonyms Primo, Secondo, and Terzo. Guess who was born first?

At any rate, last week was Secondo's 8th birthday and I planned the perfect present. You see, Secondo and I share an interest in skirts and dresses. I enjoy drag and the occasional forray into crossdressing and Secondo is possibly transgender and certainly a "girl's" clothing fan. So a few weeks before his birthday, Secondo and I had a conversation about skirts. Specifically: If you could have any skirt in the world what would your dream skirt be? I decided that mine would have to be something incredibly poofy and irridescent so I'd feel like a giant fluffy cupcake. Secondo said he wanted a pink superhero skirt that was good for twirling. [On a random side note: Secondo loves twirly skirts and has actually managed to break his arm before in a twirling-related incident. Oy.]

Anyway, as soon as he said this I thought to myself: I can make this skirt. And thus a birthday present was born.

I bought some superhero fabric from my local JoAnn's, grabbed some bright pink fabric from my stash, and used the twirly skirt pattern from Sew Liberated that I'd bought several years prior and never used. You can find it on their website should you decide you need a good twirly skirt pattern but it's soon to be discontinued so buy it soon if you want it.

Alas I can't show you pictures of Secondo in his skirt, nor can I accurately capture the look of glee on his face when I gave it to him. Instead I will tell you that the skirt's home is not in his dresser but in his locked treasure chest where he keeps his most prized possessions. Which should be enough to illustrate how well it was received.

Here are some (kind of crappy - sorry!) cell phone pictures of the skirt. It was my first time attempting to gather fabric and oh man what a pain that is! You sew a line and then very gently pull the top or bottom thread so the material gathers. The sewers of the internet seem to advise sewing three lines in case one breaks. In my case all three broke. Whoops! Luckily for me there is a cheater method where you gently hold the thread on the top of your sewing machine to create some extra tension and your fabric will gather as you sew. Far less painful!

My First Non-Intro Post!

Ok I'm posting right away so I get into the habit. My big news from yesterday is that I finally got my garlic bulbs in the mail! Garlic planting here I come! I also got a tiny dwarf blueberry plant that I threw in for the free shipping despite being fairly sure I will kill it within the month. I grew up in a house with a blueberry grove in the backyard and would love to recreate that in my dream house someday. For now, a dwarf blueberry plant in a container seems like the better way to go.

Aren't they cute?

Garlic bulbs and blueberry plant on my kitchen table. 

Welcome To My Blog!

Friends: I've decided to make a blog. It's about time for me to have a place to natter on about my gardening, sewing, cooking, worm bin, mushroom growing, and other random DIY projects. Maybe I'll throw in random updates about my life and pictures of my cats. We shall see...

About me:
31. Gay. Recently divorced. Living in a coop with seven other people plus three cats and a dog. Working as a personal care assistant by day (and some nights) and taking nursing classes by night (er... the other nights). Occasional pet sitter and babysitter. Music lover, book worm, and aspiring fashionista (fatshionista?). Teaching myself French in the hopes of moving to Canada. Trying to become healthier in my diet and excercise habits. Working on becoming rich slowly - incredibly slowly.