Author Archive

Like everyone else, the Jersey Shore is my guilty pleasure TV programming for the summer.  In my defense, I can’t help it!  I am from New Jersey, so it’s practically required viewing. I completely blame Pauly D and the Situation for causing words like grenades and landmines to creep into everyday vernacular.

Besides hailing from the Garden State, the Jersey Shore cast and I have another thing in common, a shared appreciation of GTL: gym, tan, laundry, although my definition varies differently from my NJ counterparts.  Gym: I don’t aspire to look like a juicehead, but I do want to tone and work on problem areas.  Tan: I’m naturally fair-skinned to a hue that would be repellent to Snooki, but even I aspire to get a sun-kissed glow for the warmer months.  Laundry: There’s no smell I love more than fresh laundry detergent.  Check out my own favorite GTL picks for this summer! (more…)

One of my favorite daily clicks has been Color Me Katie, a blog by Katie Sokoler, freelance photographer and Brooklyn street artist, with the most fun, exuberant sense of color I have ever seen. Her site always brings a smile to my face with her cheery use of rainbow color that spans the spectrum of the Crayola crayon box.  She uses her awesome color sense to construct playful, vibrantly hued, public installation street art and homemade crafts, such as hand drawn bird and balloon window etchings and these joyful, hand-drawn edible marshmallow figurines.  With a small paintbrush, food coloring, and neon icing, Katie transformed each bland marshmallow into a unique personality, by hand-drawing a cartoonish mug and adding a rakish icing hairstyle, ranging from pompadours to mohawks.  As she recommends, how fun would it be to have a bowl of these at a party?  If you have young kids or nieces and nephews to dote over, I think this would be an awesome at-home project for a rainy day. Be sure to check out the rest of Katie’s blog, including a really cute series of public Pac-man pictures that will warm the heart of any old-school arcade lover.  I look forward to seeing some more of Katie’s work live, brightening up dreary street corners and walls!

Contrary to the character she plays on TV, Glee’s Lea Michele has been anything but a style dork on the red carpet this season.  In non-Rachel-Barry form, this TV-star ingenue has become one of my favorites to watch out for on the red carpet for her sophisticated, modern, and risk-taking style. She hasn’t been afraid to mix it up and play with her look, by choosing bold colors, like the bright saffron-yellow Zac Posen she wore to this year’s Tony Awards, or new designers, like the Erdem she wore to the 2010 Fox Up Front Party.  Bold lip colors, blunt Zoey Deschanel-esque bangs, dramatic updos: these are just a few of the things she’s used to complete her looks.  You may disagree with some of her sartorial choices, but at least you know she’s always trying and cares about fashion!

Check out some of my favorite looks from this year, beginning with this year’s Teen Choice Awards:

1.  Teen Choice Awards - I always expect to see a lot of monochrome bandage-style Herve Leger dresses at an event like this, which is why I was excited to see Lea Michele stand out from the crowd in this glittery, jade-colored, leaf-patterned Naeem Khan dress.  Still body-conscious and figure flattering, the peek-a-boo nude color beautifully flatters her sun-kissed skin.  I love a fun, colorful print on the red carpet, and the sequin embellishment up the dress’s sophistication factor, which she off-sets with casually bouncy, glossy brunette waves. (more…)

Lobster, fresh lemon juice, and the taste of clarified butter: foods for me that conjure up summertime memories of when I was 7 or 8, and our family used to make yearly car-ride pilgrimages to Arcadia, Maine, for a taste of the outdoors that suburban New Jersey couldn’t provide.  Rather then playing the “Am I There Yet” game with my brother, I spent the 8-10 hour drive to Maine sleeping.  But I always knew when we were getting close to our destination when my dad pulled into the nearest, decent open-air, roadside seafood joint advertising LOBSTERS in capital letters.

Our whole family would sit down to a fresh lunch (or dinner) of a few, simply steamed lobsters with sides of lemon and melted butter, as we dug into their nooks and crannies, seeking out the fresh, sweet meat.  My dad was always the best and fastest at digging, always offering us the choicest, largest morsels, something he still does today whenever we eat shellfish.  I was always amazed when he could crack a lobster claw, and remove the entire thing intact, like extracting a puzzle piece.

Coming to Mary’s Fish Camp, made me feel like I wasn’t on Charles Street anymore, but exiting onto the highway off a family trip from Maine into one of those roadside seafood joints.  Perched on the corner, Mary’s Fish Camp is a small open-window corner restaurant with walls lined with faded old-time nautical ads  and ’70s rock playing overhead  (when I was there, it seemed like the entire Virgin Suicides Soundtrack was on rotation).   One of their famed Lobster Rolls can be seen on practically every one of their ten tables and along the smooth metal counter. (more…)

I’m always incredibly inspired by the awesome handmade creations over at P.S. I Made This.  Graceful ankle wrap sandals, pom pom necklaces, ruffle t-shirts, ways to customize your own clothes with the D&G paint inspired trend, this site is the ultimate in fashion do-it-yourself bags, clothing, and jewelry and offers an inventive solution to inexpensive style.  My most recent favorite is this preppy chic iPad case, which can almost be mistaken for a fashionable clutch. Made out of an inflatable travel pillowcase, electrical tape, and gorilla cloth, I love the rattan stripe pattern of her original version, but you can pick out your own pattern and customize it when you select your pillowcase.

Not so great at do-it yourself?  Check out a notebook inspired hard iPad case that reminds me of my favorite moleskins behind the jump (more…)

Over the weekend, I finally stopped being the last person on earth who hadn’t seen Inception, and saw a Sunday afternoon show with a few friends.  Relieved that I can finally join in on conversations about things like tokens and concepts like “dreaming within a dream” without a quizzical look on my face, the movie was so good and utterly absorbing.  If you haven’t seen it yet, I completely recommend it.

But leaving the movie theater, I had one primary thought in my head and it wasn’t dream related.  It was, “Wow, the suit tailoring in this movie was impeccable.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the other men in this movie have some hot looks.”  Unfortunately, since I was with straight, non-metrosexual men, this was not a topic they were interested in discussing (particularly my thoughts about the hotness of JGL’s looks as he bounded around in the hotel.)  I loved how each male character in the movie had a sharply defined look that expressed their individual personalities, although all of them wore suits. After the jump, check out where you can get their suits, and some more details about their looks. (more…)

Who: Aida and Selma at Salon AKS

What: Natural, glossy highlights and face-framing eyebrow tweezing

Where: Salon AKS 689 Fifth Avenue, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10022, (212) 888-0707

When: Monday-Saturday

Why: Ever since the highlight disaster of 2009, I’ve been wary of anyone touching a hair on my head.  I come into haircut appointments now armed with a swath of pictures, and I haven’t gotten professional color in a year.  Highlight roots were a reality and after hearing someone describe my hair color honestly as “spotty,” I knew that enough was enough: it was time to get over my fear and ditch the two-tone color situation. (more…)

Redefining the idea of books as art are Penguin Deluxe Classics: classic works of literature rebound in French flaps with re-imagined cover designs from artists such as Ruben Toledo, fashion illustrator and husband to a Michelle Obama favorite designer, Isabel Toledo.  The Toledos have been receiving a lot of buzz recently for their recent Target design collaboration of resortwear, which imparts their signature high-fashion gothic design elements.  Check out some more of his trademark design elements with his blend of fanciful, macabre and dreamy covers for some of my favorite books, including Pride and Prejudice, The Scarlet Letter and my personal favorite, Wuthering Heights.

The Ruben Toledo Wuthering Heights cover does a fantastic job of conveying the key elements of the story in a single look: the brooding, the tempestuous and impassioned Healthcliff/Cathy romance, and the setting against the dark and stormy English moors, which are a secondary character to the story in and of itself.  I’m also loving the other innovative cover design collaborations that Penguin is doing in honor of its 75th anniversary, such as Penguin Ink, which has some of the world’s best tattoo artists and illustrators creating new covers for classics by David Foster Wallace, Martin Amis, Helen Fielding, and Ian Fleming.

The Ruben Toledo versions are currently sold on Amazon, and reduced from its current list price of $16 to $10.88.  If you know of anyone that is a fan of the gothic-inspired look of Alice in Wonderland and other similar titles, this would make a great gift!

Frequent readers of The Daily Obsession know that we heart Shobha and have mentioned them on our site many times, but seriously, this time, I can’t stop raving about their Ingrown Hair Relief Lotion, which has magically erased ALL razor bumps and ingrown hairs.

Forget about the semi-painful solutions you’ve found on google, suggesting warm compresses etc.  Apply the Shobha lotion to dry, clean skin once (with a double dose for a more serious situation), and you will literally wake up the next morning with smooth skin.  I’ve been informed that the lotion performs miracles with its glycolic acid exfoliate, which removes the dead upper layers of skin, the main cause of razor bumps and ingrown hairs.  It also prevents hair follicle clogs that cause the inward redirection of hair growth.

Since it’s a glycolic acid exfoliate, there aren’t any exfoliation beads in the lotion.  The consistency is shaving-cream-like, with a gentle moisturizing and soothing component, with tea tree oil and glycerin, and a gentle soapy scent.  The scent isn’t especially feminine, so it’s not male-repellent, so completely shareable with dads, brothers, and boyfriends.  I plan to pass along one to my younger brother, who recently just started shaving for the first time.

The Shobha Ingrown Hair Relief Lotion retails for $22 and can be bought on the Shobha website.

Maybe you are like me, and have been hearing for months the buzz about Tracy Anderson, the trainer responsible for Madonna’s sinewy arms and Gwyneth’s incredible legs. I’ve read her coverage on GOOP, I’ve done the videos from when she was featured on Daily Candy, but I haven’t bought a home work out video (yet). Despite the positive media coverage, I’ve been honestly a little skeptical about whether it was ever possible for a non-celebrity to get the red-carpet worthy results that she promises using her methods, since they seem a little renegade and different from others. For example, she’s mentioned before that she doesn’t believe in a few things (“Running–it will give you a bad butt!”) and spinning (purported to give a girl a man’s thighs) that have made me raise an eyebrow of disbelief and almost swear off the treadmill and exercise bikes for life.

This W magazine article, which I found through the Lancome Blog, seems like the best real, non-celebrity endorsement of her services so far. W magazine editor, Jamie Rosen, worked out with the celebrity trainer for 6 weeks, and showcases her experience, the diet, the exercises, and most importantly, the results! As to be expected, when you are working out 6 days a week for 6 weeks at a time and following the ideal healthy diet, you will see results and Jamie did. But the interesting thing is that although Jamie didn’t lose much weight (about 4 lbs), she lost a lot of mass over her whole body (a total of 40 inches, with 4 inches alone just from her hips!)

Jamie Rosen has a similar body type to me (petite and curvy) so the before and after photos/measurements were incredible and particularly inspirational. Since a membership to the Tracy Anderson Studio is about $900 a month, I probably won’t be venturing there on my own anytime soon but the article is an interesting read nonetheless for summer work out motivation. Also check out Tracy’s recommended workout playlist!