New

I was in Farmville yesterday and got to hang out with Jenni and spend some time with our newest addition to The Longwood Look family.

Everyone, meet Amy.

Other than being totally adorable and sweet, she's a senior studying art with a concentration in printmaking and bookarts, which is really cool. I asked her to tell me a little bit about herself and she managed to eloquently connect her love for printmaking and design to her love for clothing and fashion: "The wonderful thing about fashion, in my mind, is that it allows you to design a little bit of your daily life in a relatively practical way. In general, as an artist, my philosophy is to attempt to create something thought-provoking, interesting, or beautiful. When this can happen with clothing the otherwise mundane task of dressing becomes artistic." Makes sense to me, and I love her already. I know you will, too.

She and Jenni are going to be writing the Look for the newspaper this semester, and then three of us will continue to update the blog right here. Amy and Jenni have lots of good ideas for everyone with access to The Rotunda this semester, so all of you who are still at Longwood have a lot to look forward to!

Review: Olay Total Effects Cooling Hydration

I have a gig as an Ambassador for Glamour Magazine-- a "Glambassador," if you will. I have cards and everything. Every now and again they send me some free stuff and I get to use it and let them know what I think about it. But, I just realized that I barely even write about any of it here, which is weird, because sometimes I feel like I'm going to run out of things to write about. So let me tell you about Olay Total Effects Cooling Hydration, ya digg?

photo

 It was light enough to wear during Virginia's muggy summers and didn't make my skin feel weighed down or anything. I could tell it wasn't clogging my pores, and that's important to me because I have really temperamental skin that refuses to grow up and sometimes breaks out just for the hell of it. It smelled really good and felt even better. 

My only criticism is that it has no SPF, which is really too bad because slathering sunscreen on over it pretty much takes away from its overall lightness and non-greasy texture. But you guys know how I feel about sunscreen. After about a week I ended up only using it at night so I could switching back to my original moisturizer with sunscreen in the mornings. Overall, though, it was really good.

So if you're in the market for some new moisturizer, you might want to give this a try!

Let me know what you think.

<3 Megan

Polished

Some of my girlfriends and I obviously have a couple big things in common, but one strange and important one is that we're all really good at doing our own nails. Seriously. It bothers me so much to even think about paying for a manicure (even/especially one that involves French tips) because I've gotten so ridiculously good at doing my own. If I go to a spa to have them done, it's probably my birthday or I've had some sort of bizarre emotional crisis that warrants pampering from some nail tech that I don't know. It's fine.

There's a new-ish spa in downtown Roanoke called polished by claire v. that I can walk to from my apartment and I really wanted to try it out. I went online and looked at their prices and thought they were pretty reasonable. For $20 I got a really good manicure, plus an up-to-my-elbows massage with a raspberry-lemonade scented scrub and lotion that smelled so delicious and juicy, it made me have to consciously think about not licking it off my arms.

Because I hate spending money on something that I can do just as well by myself, I've learned that adding an extra layer of topcoat 24 hours after a manicure usually makes your polish last days later. This cool blue/green hue (from their own collection of polishes that you can buy for just five bucks) stayed with me for more than a week after I left polished without so much as a chip. I ended up having to take it off with remover nine days later simply because I was ready for something new.

If you live in or close to Roanoke I'd really encourage you to give polished a try. It's always nice to support local businesses and they do a really good job. On Thursday and Friday nights ladies get a complimentary beverage and the second Tuesday of every month is Guys' Night--complete with beers and snacks. If you aren't close to Roanoke, then you might just have to plan a visit and we can go together!

I'll make us an appointment.

<3 Megan

Inspiration

Posted by Jenni

So, what you basically know about me is that I really like dresses. I do. I like them so much that it's just easier to tell you that I have thirty dresses than something more meaningful. I really enjoy reading and learning to use the slow-cooker.

One of the most important things to me is music. I'm a voice major, actually, and when I find music that is created rather than recycled, well, it inspires me.



This song in particular is an abstract and literal piece of artwork. The opening whispery tones are muted and intended to create a separate atmosphere - a sphere of sound. Then the driving bass/drum combo comes in, the idea of pursuit. This is the musical representation of the image - the Resistance. It is an entity, and whole.

Like clothes, music is more than an organized collection of sound.

Music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPE9uSFFxrI
Image: Muse, The Resistance

Gimme

I'm loving these big-girl Mary Janes in all the colors, but mostly the ones pictured below.

J.Crew

If you have $228 burning a hole in your pocket, I wear a size seven and my birthday is September 4th.

Thanks a billion!
<3 Megan

Style Inspiration

She's not a model or a designer or anything. But she writes and she sings and her music changed me and still gives me goosebumps so much that I'm not ashamed to say that if I have daughters, one of them will be named Regina. And yes, that daughter will be named after Regina Spektor.

First of all, the girl's got great hair. She wears the cutest dresses. She's totally sexy but is almost always wearing stockings or boots or hidden behind a piano. And she wears red lipstick like nobody's business. I love her with makeup, I love her without it. And, despite having a career that involves playing the piano all the time, her nails always look great.

I find her to be so unusual but really classic at the same time, and I can't get enough! I think it's a big feat to be able to so effortlessly blur the lines between sexiness and cuteness. I just want to put on my best heels and meet her for tea.

Who's your style inspiration?

<3 Megan