Conversation | vmac+cheese

Beauty Confessions

Posted on July 18, 2011 by vmacandcheese

Remember when you were in sixth grade and you desperately wanted to wear that one shade of lip color, or regularly shave your legs, or get that amazing perm and your mother’s answer to all three were, “NO,” and you felt super awkward and embarrassed that you were such a mutant? Just me?

Well, in any case, today I felt like coming clean and confessing some of my more embarrassing beauty secrets. Call it Beauty Therapy 101.

Ok, here we go. No judgement.

1. I can probably count the number of manicures I’ve had in my life on one hand. I don’t know what it is…they’re just not my thing. I really hate having nail polish on my fingernails, because I feel like they’re getting dirty but the color masks it. It just grosses me out. Also, I can’t stand having long nails. So what do I do? I cut my nails, and I keep ‘em short. I know, GASP!, so un-lady like. I was also never really into pedicures until recently, when I had to take better care of my talons because of pilates. But I will admit, there’s nothing like having a foot scrub and leg massage while you sit in a recliner and zone out.

2. I can easily go 10 days between shaving my legs, if not more. This one is less gross, and more just good genes and luck, I SWEAR. My hair grows in sooooo slowly, and even when it does, it’s very thin and barely visible. To prove my point, as I was writing this post, I got up from my computer and asked Joe if my legs looked hairy. He said no, and even copped a little feel (on my shin!). I haven’t shaved my legs since the day before I left for Cabo. Don’t hate me.

3. I never had my eyebrows waxed until college. Yeah, this one is just embarrassing.

So spill it. Everyone has one (at least, I hope so!). What’s your embarrassing beauty secret?

{Image Credits: The Sartorialist; Made By Girl; Into the Gloss}

Filed under: Beauty, Conversation, Just thinking..., Monday Musing | 9 Comments »

Illustrations + Giveaway from Emma Kisstina!

Posted on March 29, 2011 by vmacandcheese

When I first laid eyes on the EmmaKisstina Etsy shop, I fell instantly in love. The illustrations are whimsical, bold, and unabashedly girly. Nothing wrong with that, right?

I first learned about Swedish illustrator Kristina Hultkrantz through The Neo-Traditionalist, and was thrilled to discover that she could create a custom illustration for me, and for a ridiculously affordable price to boot. Kristina is a wonderful illustrator, whose work has been featured in Matchbook, Adore and Cosmopolitan Sweden. You might remember that I’ve been on the hunt for a small piece of artwork for my office gallery wall, and I thought a custom illustration of my signature perfume would be a perfect fit. In no time at all, Kristina whipped up the most beautiful illustration of Chanel Gardénia for me:

I’m always fascinated and inspired by women like Kristina, who are talented and ambitious and who just go for it. So you can imagine my delight when Kristina agreed to not only a profile here on vmac+cheese, but also a fabulous giveaway of one of her illustrations! Take it away, Kristina (and be sure to read on for details on how you can win the illustration of your choice!)

Name: Emma Kristina… but call me Kristina

Hometown: Portland, Maine

Current town: Stockholm, Sweden

Where to find: Website, Blog, Etsy, Tumblr, Flickr

Describe your personal style in 5 adjectives:

Colorful, Classic, Sexy, Simple and Girly

How did you end up in Stockholm?

A long story. But short version, my parents are Swedish therefore every few years we would visit relatives in Sweden. I have always been in love with Sweden, the history, the landscape, architecture, people, fashion, food, everything! So after finishing college I needed a change from all the partying and sunbathing, and moved to chilly Stockholm where I only knew a handful of relatives and only had a pretty good grasp of the language.

My plan was just to try it out for a year, but now I have been here for 3 and have no plans of moving back to the States. I’ve met my soulmate Johan and a sweet group of girlfriends, we have a quirky little apartment, I speak write and understand Swedish fluently and I have finally managed to live my dream job, freelance illustration. Moving to Sweden has really been the best decision of my life.

Are you a full time illustrator? How do you make freelancing work for you?

I have been working as a full time illustrator since this past summer. I still have no idea how this is possible, I swear I’ve just had good luck.

What are your favorite things to draw and why?

I love drawing objects much more than drawing people. Sometimes the objects we have around us tell us more about ourselves than a self portrait. Plus I don’t have to worry about photorealism.

What’s your proudest business-related accomplishment to date?

Quitting my day job. Well rather the catering company I worked for went out of business so I was forced to come up with a new plan. I was determined not to work in the restaurant business all my life so this gave me the opportunity to really focus on working on my illustrations and build my little company. Once I was out of work I really sat down and emailed as many agencies, magazines, and blogs I could think of, while building up my portfolio and creating new works for my Etsy shop. The time I invested in my illustrations paid off, after just a few months I was able to live off my work and not just my savings.

What’s the best thing about your line of work? The most challenging?

The best part of being an illustrator is that I can work from home and make my own schedule and I am my own boss. Plus I draw pictures for a living, how great is that! It is challenging to structure myself and my work day though. The worst part is that it can get a little lonely and quiet at home, and sometimes I am not the greatest boss. There is no one to tell me that I’d rather be working on that project due in a few days rather than baking blueberry muffins or sleeping in late. But I think it is important to take days off and have a lot of free time. I don’t allow myself to feel guilty if I don’t work 24/7 even though I run my own business.

What keeps you inspired? How do you stay creative?

Other artists and blogs keep me in constant supply of inspiration. I make sure to allot several hours to blog reading and flickr browsing each day. And when pretty pictures don’t help and I’m still uninspired I take the day off.

So inspiring! Kristina makes it seem easy, but I definitely appreciate the immense amount of hard work that has gone in to making her business successful, don’t you?

To top it all off, Kristina is very generously offering one lucky vmac+cheese reader the small or medium print of their choice from her Etsy shop! Here’s what you need to do to win:

EMMA KISSTINA GIVEAWAY

1. Head on over to her Etsy shop, Emma Kisstina.

2. Come back to this post and leave a comment below letting us know which is your fave illustration. One entry per reader.

3. All entries must be received by Monday, April 4, by 5pm Pacific time.

4. A randomly drawn winner will be announced Tuesday, April 5!!

Bonne chance, and a HUGE thank you to Kristina!

Filed under: Beautiful Things, Career Woman, Conversation, Design, Style to Inspire | Tagged: giveaway, illustration | 15 Comments »

Checking the ingredient list

Posted on March 2, 2011 by vmacandcheese

My friend Ashley sent me a note the other day pointing me to this Martha Stewart article from her magazine Whole Living. The piece discusses the “bad” chemicals in the everyday beauty products we use, and contrasts them against “the good.” I’ve heard about avoiding parabens for a while now, but there were plenty of other ingredients on this list that I wasn’t aware of. I’m curious — when you guys shop for beauty products, do you consider what’s in the ingredient list? Or simply what works best for you? And do you have any all-natural products you swear by? Spill it in the comments!

{Image Credits: Pinterest 1 2}

Filed under: Conversation, Style Files | Tagged: beauty, natural, organic, paraben, products | 4 Comments »

A blogging first

Posted on January 11, 2011 by vmacandcheese

Last night after work, I stopped in at the Jonathan Adler store. There was this owl bowl/vase:

Fantastic tabletop textiles:

And this little ‘V’ pillow cover that I may end up getting because I LOVE IT:

Let’s see, what else was there…?

Oh, you know, just MORGAN from Attention to Detail! The rumors are true: vmac+cheese and Attention to Detail had a blogger meet up last night on Fillmore and it was spectacular!

One of the things I love most about blogging is connecting with so many people who share the same interests as you. But I’d never met any of my fellow bloggers in person. And I must admit, I was a little nervous about our rendezvous. What if she thought I was a huge weirdo for liking a rat butter dish? What if I couldn’t think of things to talk about and was just super awk? What if, as one of my co-workers joked, she was actually a he — a crazed, nutjob, call-the-police he at that.

But of course, of course, none of this happened. Not even close! I arrived at JA first, and the minute Morgan walked in, without even knowing what the other person really looked like, we recognized each other. And let’s just say, I’m glad she’s a hugger too. We had a great time oohing and aahing over the things in Jonathan Adler (and she totally approved of the butter dish), then we headed up to Nest and then back down to Paper Source.

Both of our respective gentleman were at bars watching the national championship game, so we soon had to depart for the requisite beer. But it was oh-so-fun to hang out and talk with a fellow blogger who shares your interests and passions!

One major fail though. We were so busy catching up and snapping pics of the goods that we completely forgot to get a picture together! So I have no real photo evidence of our meeting. But I promise it happened. I can tell you this much: Morgan is super adorable, has a great eye, and I wish I could hang out with her more.

I have determined that blogger meetups are the best thing ever. So this is an open invite. If any of y’all are ever in SF and would like to meet up, please let me know! We will all skip down to Hayes Valley, arm in arm, and proceed to buy everything in Plantation.

And to Morgan, thank you so much for taking time out of your vacation to meet up with me. I hope you have a fabulous time in California!!!!

Filed under: Conversation, Design, Just thinking..., SF/Bay Area | 4 Comments »

On pins

Posted on November 4, 2010 by vmacandcheese

I recently joined an amazing new social photo sharing site called Pinterest. I know, I know, before you groan and roll your eyes and say “Oh my god, not ANOTHER social networking site,” trust me, Pinterest is different. It’s awesome. It’s like a completely visual Delicious. It’s a one-stop-shop to store all of your links, images, videos, whatever from around the Internets. The best part is, everything can be captioned, tagged, categorized, and searched, and since it’s social, you can easily see what other people are pinning. It’s inspiration for days. You’ve been warned. Once you start pinning, you won’t be able to stop. Workplace productivity will decrease by 500%.

If you wanna take a gander, you can check out my boards and pins here. The site is still in beta, and is currently invite/wait-list only. I signed up on the Pinterest wait list and about two weeks later got the invite. However, once you’re in, you’re allotted a couple invites to send to friends. For some reason, though I sent a few invites out this morning, the site randomly gave me a few more, so if you are interested, please leave me a comment and I’ll be happy to send you an invite. First come, first serve.

As an example of the fantastic things you’ll discover on Pinterest, I invite you to squeal over this ridiculously cute wedding invitation I saw (and immediately re-pinned):