Say No Diggity ODESZA/Blackstreet Mash
This is everything right now.
Also, ODESZA has joined my playlist for directing the pace of my head. Time to pull up the blinds.
amazing
Mast Brothers Chocolate Tour
This is painted on the left wall.
I took a tour of the Mast Brothers’ factory on Friday. It was brilliant. I’ve taken “chocolate themed” tours before, and visited the Ghiradelli Square in San Francisco when I was a teenager, and neither of those visits made me feel as excited about chocolate as the ~45 minute walk around the factory watching things being made did. I feel more educated now, and not in the way Starbucks or Teavana wanted its employees to feel and to make the customers feel when I worked for them (apologies to the, honestly, really great people who complimented me on how genuine I was), but more like when we visited the Kitchen at Grove Station and talked to the guy serving Modcup coffee near the door about how cold it was to be right next to the door during a late autumn grand opening. I still need to try honey processed coffee.
Sorry for the potato.
I tried to take some pictures, but my new phone’s camera is kind of a potato (thought apparently an improvement on the old camera), and my hands are not the most stable. I should ask for a new camera for Christmas.
I like the wooden flag. The bags with the color on them are sugar and the bags with no visible markings are cocoa beans. I convinced my boyfriend not to go lay in them, somehow.
We weren’t allowed to take pictures after passing the counter, which is understandable, as the ideas behind any number of their machines is fairly simple and easy to steal with a few good pictures, and they have a policy of a human touch being most important, which means many of their machines aren’t perfect automatons. If they did, I’m sure someone with fantastic business sense and fewer ethics could probably drive them out with a few tweaks to make the machines perfect. Although the idea of keeping the machines imperfect and stressing out the employees is a little odd, they did make a comment about how the latest they’ve worked until was maybe midnight, made it sound outrageous, and confirmed that their job was way, way better than retail in that regard at least. Anyway, the machines obviously don’t hold them back. Read More
FKA twigs
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/09/fka-twigs-two-weeks-lp1
FKA twig’s styling is so killer, her voice is lovely and interesting, and the lyrics are, well “Feel your body closin’, I can rip it open/suck me up, I’m healin’ for the shit you’re dealin’/smoke on your skin to get those pretty eyes rollin’/my thighs are apart for when you’re ready to breathe in/suck me up, I’m healin’ for the shit you’re dealin’/hi, motherfucker, get your mouth open, you know you’re mine.”
I’ve listened to “Two Weeks”, “Video Girl”, and “Pendulum” so far. There’s a layered, almost litany-like suggestion to the music so far that I really enjoy in most music. That’s also why I love HOLYCHILD, especially my first exposure to them via clothesencounters. Church choral (think Carol of the Bells, which is basically a huge choral round) is intended to open up the mind to the higher beings and create an emotional understanding of spirituality; I’m not religious, but there’s always a slightly different part of my hearing that only pays attention when that quality is used in music.
Expressive sexual passion and “weird” seems to be the image for her. Like Frida Kahlo (which is why I chose the above picture.) It’s rough and it’s a little weirder than what I would generally share with the general public, but I like it. Plus, it’s actually not that weird past the surface. She’s a popstar gaining traction and dating Robert Pattinson, so obviously someone thought the time was ripe for someone who’s like a female The Weeknd with extra synth. It’s severely different from one Ms. Nicki Minaj, who also has a hat in the “weird-sexy” field, but does it with wild colors, multiple personalities (Beyonce really should have just stayed out of that trend) and a kind of arms-length, clinical sexuality, while FKA twigs is much more intimate, and dirty.
I like that. Even Jhene Aiko, even though I adore her, doesn’t really have a texture like that.
Jo Malone Rain Series – White Jasmine and Mint
Gather quickly
Out of darkness
All the songs you know
And throw them at the sun
Before they melt
Like snow– Bouquet, Langston Hughes
Jo Malone Rain Series
White Jasmine and Mint
Wet: strong jasmine, citrus (like a lime juice and vodka), freshly chopped peppercorns, mint
Dry: jasmine, cream, nutmeg, back hint of mint
While I expected this to be floral-heavy, it’s actually surprisingly spicy, and reminds me of a mojito, or a vodka and lime juice a fraternity brother once made for me while we were all…relaxing. The jasmine stays strong throughout, but it’s warmed by spicy notes and unexpected creaminess, and then cooled off just slightly by the mint at the end which strokes the back of the throat. My boyfriend hates mint, but enjoyed this mix, and I have to agree. I’ve always loved a nice jasmine, and White Jasmine and Mint doesn’t disappoint.
This is a really interesting scent, fitting for both summer and winter days, and perhaps a little mismatch for the autumn. I can equally see someone wearing this while snow drifts overhead, or on a beach lightening the scents of the sea. I can’t wait for winter to start.
Kiesza is my new girl crush
Oh my god she’s flawless and beautiful and everything.
She did a gorgeous rendition of ‘Hallelujah’, but my camera was down for that one. I did get her top song though and it was bangin’.
Jo Malone Rain Series – Wisteria and Violet
And then he flew as far as eye could see,
And then on tremulous wing came back to me.
I thought of questions that have no reply,
And would have turned to toss the grass to dry;
But he turned first, and led my eye to look
At a tall tuft of flowers beside a brook
– The Tuft of Flowers, Robert Frost
Jo Malone Rain Series
Wisteria and Violet
Wet: violet, magnolia
Dry: wisteria, violet, mahogany, cucumber
This is a warm rain smell. The first hit was intensely violets and really no wisteria at all, and in fact the patchouli was more present coloring the violets and making it all remind me more of violets and magnolias warmed under the sun than violets and wisteria in the rain. As it dried though, and I started to sniff up and down the place I applied, the wisteria came through softly, and the punch of violet faded into a more harmonic place along with the patchouli. And it became more aquatic, and more like rain and seems to end like Rain and Angelica.
I can see this on a taller woman whose favorite color might be dark orchid, and who aces those interviews like no one else at a law firm or something similarly high-powered career. It’s certainly feminine, but less girly than Rain and Angelica. It’s mature.
Bee and PuppyCat premieres November 6th!
Bee and PuppyCat premieres on November 6th! I’m so excited. The Kickstarter obviously went through and the team has been working on it for months. I love Natasha Allegri’s writing style and her brain children are some of the most interesting and entertaining of this comic style.
Plus, the art is just so lovely and fantastical.
The whole Cartoon Hangover team and all of their guests are ridiculously talented and hilarious, and they’ve gotten me excited and laughing at cartoons in a way I haven’t for years now, in a package I can actually consume (go Youtube, no television for me.)
Diamonds from Sierra Leone – Kanye West feat. Jay-Z
I forgot how much I like rap.
Jo Malone’s Rain and Angelica review coming first thing tomorrow morning!
Jo Malone Rain Series – Black Cedarwood and Juniper
Review time!
I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.
– Sonnet XVII, Pablo Neruda
Jo Malone Rain Series
Black Cedarwood and Juniper
Wet: juniper, spice, tree bark, cedar
Dry: juniper, spice, tree bark, water
I love how woody this scent starts out, and am a little disappointed it falls to the background after a few minutes. Although the distinct cedar dies out on the dry-down for me, it leaves a warmth that I feel like is necessary to round out the sweet, watery juniper. Apparently there’s chili in this as well, which likely supports that point. I can’t stop sniffing it. It smells like how I want my sheets to smell after a night in, and a scent I could get used to on my pillow at night. Quite seductive, at least to me.
I like it on myself, but I would absolutely love this scent on a guy. It’s warm and sweet without being the masculine go-to sandalwood which I feel gets overplayed, and it’s just dark enough that there’s depth and passion implied, but light enough for day wear.
Finally, my kind of summer music
Let’s listen to more of my favorite songs, yes? Yes. Yessssss.
By the way, if you love Rather Be by Clean Bandits feat. Jess Glynne as much as I do, you should check out the video:
It’s based on one of their biggest fans who reported having hallucinations of the band and being unable to sleep until they finally saw them in concert. I think it’s brilliant.
Now, the on to more sustenance:
Pomelo girl thoughts 