Category: 2009

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

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We recognized Canada Day; we would be remiss to not recognize our very own Fourth of July:

American Flag

We associate the 4th of July with parades, barbeques, and fireworks, but let’s take a few moments today to reflect on The Declaration of Independence.

Read Declaration of Independence on the National Archives web site.

Listen:

Audio mp3 Reading by Bill Barker, who portrays Thomas Jefferson at Colonial Williamsburg
Audio mp3 Reading by John F. Kennedy

The Declaration of Independence closes with these words:

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.


Indeed, several signers suffered for the cause of independence.

It surprised me to hear a man from Eritrea and a man from Pakistan say that they had memorized the Declaration of Independence in their home countries.

The Declaration of Independence is housed at the National Archives in Washington, DC. I was privileged to see the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and Bill of Rights arise from out of their vaults prior to visitor hours.

Best and worst magazine covers of 2009

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These images certainly caught our eyes at the grocery store, how about you?
This year gave us some really amazing magazine covers — and a few that left us scratching our heads in confusion. Check out our picks for the best and worst magazine covers of 2009 — did your faves make the list?

Guess which was among the worst magazine covers?

While not necessarily bad-bad, the February 2009 issue of Allure came in for criticism on account of Stephane Marais’s applying a fake bake tan to fair-complected redhead Isla Fisher.

The Cosmetics Story of 2009

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It’s official. I have reviewed the articles published on More Than a Pretty Face this year and selected The Cosmetics Story of 2009.

Ellis Faas is THE cosmetics story of 2009. Hers is the most exciting and original cosmetics story this year. Her Human Colours concept is based on colors based in the human body, a concept that evolved from her experience in doing special effects makeup (simulating wounds, bruises, and blood) for PSAs. Somehow it doesn’t fit to call the sleek space age pens that she uses for her products as unique, distinctive, standout, etc., as these words have become so overused that they have lost meaning. Her packaging is truly one of a kind.

Since I published my interview with Ellis Faas back in August, she’s launched Ellis Skin (foundation, blusher, concealer, and powder) and Ellis Eyes (eye shadow, mascara, and eyeliner), all packaged in the same sleek space age pens used for Ellis Lips.

Now Ellis Faas has launched Ellis Holder to hold her products. It’s a cylinder that can hold up to eight of her products. The skin veil pen fits in the center slot, while other products can be put in the six surrounding slots. Compact powder may be placed in the lid.


Ellis Holder – image from www.ellisfaas.com

Here is Ellis Faas demonstrating how to use Ellis Holder:

Video from www.ellisfaas.com

Not sure about the music with the overdub, though. It sounds like background for soft-core porn! Madonna’s Justify My Love comes to mind.

And here is a video of her showing how not to use Ellis Holder:

Video from Ellis Faas’s YouTube channel

The Dutch love strong coffee! I traveled across Canada with several folks from The Netherlands, and we were dumbstruck as they added teaspoon after teaspoon of instant coffee and teaspoon after teaspoon of sugar to approximate what they drank back home. It was more like slurry than coffee.

Trailblazing model Naomi Sims dies at 61

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Naomi Sims, who was the first African-American model to be featured on the cover of a major magazine (the November 1968 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal), died of breast cancer on August 1 at age 61. She paved the way for every model of African origin who came after her, including Beverly Johnson, Imam, Tyra, and the *other* Naomi, among many others.

Read my review of the autobiography of Alek Wek, another model who changed the standards of beauty.

Here are two photos of Naomi Sims that I love:

The October 17, 2009 issue of Life, in which she has a ponytail coiled around her neck:

Naomi Sims

Nearly 40 years later, it still looks fresh.

This photo was taken in 1973:

Naomi Sims

Beverly Johnson, who became the first African-American model to appear on the cover of Vogue, shares her memories of Naomi Sims’ kindness when she was a fledgling model in this radio interview. No Naomi-Tyra fighting here!

Beverly Johnson

Better days

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Farrah Fawcett (February 2, 1947 – June 25, 2009) on her top-selling pin-up (1976)

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=888079235932183632&hl=en&fs=true
“I want you back”
The Jackson Five featuring Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) on The Ed Sullivan Show (1970)

“Pushin’ Too Hard”
Casey Kasem introduces Sky Saxon (d. June 25, 2009) and The Seeds (1967)

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TotalBeauty.com
2009 Predictions: The Beauty Edition

The products and treatments that will take the beauty world by storm

Thousands of beauty products debut each year, so it takes something special for a product to stand out from the crowd. These are the 10 breakthroughs in the industry we think deserve a prime spot on your bathroom counter. So without further ado…

See products

Missing IsaDora? Found.

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Cover of February 2009 Allure

I was surprised to see a reference to IsaDora eyeshadow in the “Black and Blue” photo spread that appears in the February 2009 issue of Allure. Over a year ago, beauty advisors at Walgreen’s (which had been the exclusive distributor for IsaDora in the U.S.) told me that IsaDora decided against shipping to the U.S.

I checked the credits in the back of the magazine, which indicated that IsaDora was available through walgreens.com. A search of walgreens.com did not yield any results for IsaDora.

The good news is that IsaDora is now being sold through Cosmeticmall.com and Amazon.com!

Post-inauguration thoughts

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As with most Americans, I watched the Presidential inauguration. I tuned into C-SPAN, because I knew that there would be less intrusion by the chattering classes.

When so much hype and expectation surrounds an event (the election, the inauguration), I become skeptical and even cynical. It seems that many regard Barack Obama as the Second Coming. He is a politician.

Now since the inauguration is past, President Obama gets down to the hard task of governing. I hope that that will mean euphoric Americans will come down to Earth.

By and large, those of us who voted for the other guy have been at least willing to give President Obama a chance. On the other hand, we’ve been tainted as being taken in by fear. Deepak Chopra, in one of his more loopier moments, said that McCain-Palin represented our shadow selves(!): one woman started a Facebook group on that premise to hold Barack Obama “in the light.” Over one hundred people joined her group.

Now, who wants to be on the side of fear and shadows? Is this not a subtle way to undermine your opponents? I hope that President Obama and his supporters will reach out to those who didn’t vote for him – and that includes the 43% who voted for McCain-Palin.

Another thing: George W. Bush is no longer President. Enough with Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS).