cool | Pomelo girl thoughts

Tocca Reviews: Giulietta & Violette

Posted on January 6, 2016 by elemonated

Tocca is a brand that tries to embody an old world aesthetic and feminine sensibility. With its simple round bottle and traditional “perfume-y” notes, I can see its point, though it lacks some of the dirtiness I associate with a lot of old world perfume.

At their price point, this would be a great gift for someone starting out in fragrance who is perhaps a little too old for Bath & Bodyworks, cringes at the department store stuff, and values light and dainty things. The packaging, and the whole sweet and ethereal floral and fruity deal, is obviously staunchly on the girly-feminine side of things, but if that’s what you prefer, go for it!

These will be in installments of 3 so that my posts don’t stretch on.

Quebec City Day 3

Posted on January 4, 2016 by elemonated

Last day mainly consisted of eating brunch at a super adorable place called Le Lapin Saute, visiting a frozen waterfall, and driving home. A sad parting from an adorable city with awesome people.

License plate summary of my trip.

Quebec City Day 2

Posted on January 3, 2016 by elemonated

DOG SLEDDING.

DOGS.

I LOVE DOGS.

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THERE WERE SO MANY TODAY AND THEY WERE ALL SO ADORABLE.

Also, dog sledding is incredibly exhilarating. It makes you feel powerful and strong and the cold air rushing past your face while you ride through trails with your team is just perfect. I highly recommend it. Don’t be afraid to be in control either! I “drove” for two straight hours, then a break, and then Mr. Chokkattu drove the last hour back to the compound, and our path guide was about as big as I was. We managed just fine, though being a lighter weight has mild disadvantages (kids, for example, just by weight should not be given control of the sleds, as the family we road in a group with showed by constantly falling behind and falling off their sled. They were great sports about it though!)

Happy New Years + Quebec City Day 1

Posted on January 2, 2016 by elemonated

Happy New Year everyone! I hope your celebrations went well.

We decided to go visit Edgewater and see if we could get a glimpse of the NYC fireworks this year, as well as get shabu-shabu. The display wasn’t as big as we had hoped, but the food was good and we were in good company.

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We then drove off to Canada, final destination Quebec City! We stopped by in Montreal for breakfast. Shout-out to the two random guys in a car that offered me weed. I appreciate the sentiment, hope you had a great New Year’s. I did not accept, by the way. We stopped into Second Cup before heading off again.

The new Annick Goutal boutique on Madison Ave.

Posted on December 14, 2015 by elemonated

It’s a good day when you can kick back with the lovely people of Sniffapalooza and the NYC fragrance community and get buzzed on perfume.

Mr. Chokkattu and I stopped at Lladro first, but I forgot to take pictures of the pretty porcelain, brand new candles and a new votive. No matter, they had three new home fragrances. Gardens of Valencia and Mediterranean Beach are both florals, Mediterranean is heavier on the musk, and I Love You, Mom is a gourmand, floral on top of chocolate and honey.

WCW: Hedy Lamarr

Posted on November 11, 2015 by elemonated

Google featured her on Monday for her birthday, but since today’s a Wednesday, I thought I’d save her for Woman Crush Wednesday!

Not only is she iconically gorgeous, “the most beautiful woman in Europe” helped the WWII effort against Axis powers by developing jam-proof radio guidance systems for torpedoes and selling war bonds to people, as well as contributed to daily life by improving traffic lights and an Alka-Seltzer type carbonation tablet. Read More

Woman crush of the week: Tracey Stewart

Posted on October 27, 2015 by elemonated

I know I’m supposed to wait until tomorrow, but I have time now that I don’t know when I’m going to have later on this week, so I just wanted to make a short post high-lighting how cute I think Mrs. Stewart is!

(Also, I WILL put up a post detailing my Saturday at the Sniffapalooza Fall Ball, hehe. Once I get some time and regain some energy!)

Tracy Stewart Counts Her Sheep, and More – NYT

You may have heard that John and Tracey Stewart are opening up a Farm Sanctuary branch in Middleton, NJ. Read More

6 Scents 6 Selves

Posted on October 15, 2015 by elemonated

These are all male-leaning or unisex, but I have no problem wearing Fils de Dieu or Le 3’ Homme myself and I am a tiny, rather unimposing female. The Jungian personalities that I decided would be best suited to each fragrance is also just my opinion. I would never discourage anyone from wearing what they like unless they ask for it explicitly! Mr. Chokkattu and I decided that these were the most versatile that we collectively own, so the list is obviously biased in our direction.

Nearly all of the fragrances in mentioned in this list come from Twisted Lily’s The Sands sample collection which I purchased for him a few months ago. I would like to take this moment and congratulate myself on being able to choose gifts really well, and also bask in the smugness of getting Mr. Chokkattu’s older brother in on the fragrance game without actually having to interact with him. (He basically stole the sample of Tom of Finland Mr. Chokkattu had received from Scent Trunk.) Anyway.

Enjoy the list!

Imaginary Authors: Stories II

Posted on October 6, 2015 by elemonated

Here comes installment two! In my previous post about Imaginary Authors, I decided that for these fragrances I would do something different and write some short stories based on what comes up when I smell them. These stories are based on a vigilante concept that Mr. Chokkattu and I discuss whenever someone who’s a waste of space shows up on the news, and the style hopefully smacks of Brandon Sanderson as well as a tiny hint of Haruki Murakami perhaps. Hope you enjoy!

Cape Heartache: pine, oak, embers, strawberries, vanilla Read More

H&M features hijab-wearing model in new campaign

Posted on October 3, 2015 by elemonated

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/30/fashion/trends/hm-features-hijab-wearing-model-mariah-idrissi-in-new-campaign.html?_r=0

This new campaign of H&M’s is pretty insane if we’re looking at where the fashion industry, where the people featured in these series are either considered “fringe” or not considered at all. Beyond Mariah Idrissi’s hijab, the video features a young man wearing a simple pencil skirt, full-blown cross-dressers, Japanese lolita dress, traditional Japanese dress, Sikh turbans, mouth guards, a sheikh, and an amputee boxer.

Personally, having attended one of the most diverse universities in the world, where I’ve fostered friendships all across the board, and where the Muslim Girl blog got its beginnings, I actually think there are other characters way more interesting to me. I’d like the US to stop being so surprised that people who look and dress differently exist within their worlds, and I honestly thought we were getting somewhere with Muslim and Sikh dress, but I guess that’s just within the bubble of my university life and my friend group. Figures.

One thing that surprised me a little is that Elnaz Barari maintains that H&M does not take political or religious stands; unfortunately for Ms. Barari, the H&M’s board, and Ms. Idrissi, this, and everything else they’ve been doing to create a sustainable business model, is a political stand. Showcasing fringe and saying that everyone is welcome is taking a stand. At least according to conservatives it would be. And so here we are, where “It might be because hijab fashion has boomed in the last few years and to finally see a hijabi in mainstream fashion is a big achievement.”