How to tie dye/water marble your nails

Who says tie-dyeing is only for clothes?  Below, I’ll show you how to tie-dye your nails!  The process is actually called water marbling, but the effect is very similar.  Have fun!

So a hairy biker goes into a bar and orders an appletini…

Cosmos, appletinis, and Sex on the Beach…what colors are these popular drinks? Various shades of pink, orange, yellow, red, and light green. And who likes these drinks usually? Girls. Why? Because a lot of girls like pretty things in pretty colors. It’s just that simple! In fact, when I was at the airport coming back from Thanksgiving break, the lady at the bar made me a special drink that she had concocted herself–it was called Rainforest and was such a pretty lime green color and of course tasted tropical too. But, my dad loved the drink too which shows that of course it’s not only girls who can like fruity, yummy, “girly” drinks…(side note: guys, if you like the way a drink tastes, just drink it! Don’t even worry about looking like a girl or a pansy.)

Sex on the Beach drink (Image by Thiago Martins via Flickr)

But anyways, my point here is to point out how companies and even bars use colors to target a particular audience. Today, I bought a pack of drinks called “Mojo.” It’s a malt beverage the flavor I had was strawberry and kiwi, but the colors and bottle design is what really tells you who the company made this drink for. The bottle is extremely skinny, which I’ve noticed a lot of “female-targeted” drinks do, like if you’ve seen this margarita called “Skinny Girl”, it’s made with far less calories than a typical drink, and it’s in a really skinny, tall bottle, which is reminiscent of a skinny figure which let’s face it, a lot of women in our society place importance in or appeal to be. So, back to the colors of “Mojo”, it’s got a hot pink and yellow stripe pattern going down the bottle, and we all know the color pink is associated with girls.

Image by J-Ezzy via Flickr

Now, let’s compare this to beers. What colors are beers in cans usually? They consist of a mix of blue, silver, beige, dark burgundy, just regular simple uncomplicated colors. And beers in bottles? The bottles are dark brown, green, or clear…but that actually has more to do with light affecting the quality of the beer. So let’s look at the labels…let’s take for an example Harpoon’s 100-Barrel Series. This has a very dignified, classic, no-frills label. No fun, bright colors or kitschy patterns and designs.

Harpoon beer (Image by Kurt Schlachter via Flickr)

It’s not rocket science to figure out that things marketed towards guys won’t look cute and super adorable and sunny and bright…although that’s not to say that guy-targeted things will look boring! Anything but that! But just saying that in general, things marketed towards girls will use colors like pink or red more and bright colors too to attract their attention because girls really just do like pretty things. But, this is just a generalization. If you’re a dude with an unquenchable passion for cosmos, go ahead and have ’em!  And for my girls who love to chug beer, go out and get ’em!  There’s nothing that you can’t or shouldn’t do just because “it’s weird” or it’s not common.

Fall fashion and musings

So I’ve been back home for Thanksgiving (woohoo!) but I’m leaving tomorrow…sadly!  But, I did a lot of shopping today for winter and of course I couldn’t help but notice all the colors of fall/winter fashion. In terms of shoes, there was a lot of your typical browns and blacks, but also a lot of jewel tones, as is usually the case with fall fashion.  (Note: although none of these pictures were taken by me, they reflect the fall trends I saw when I was shopping.)

Fall 2011 shoes (Image by Rose Reyes via Flickr)

And of course, the staple of staples, tried and true, withstanding the test of time, stands black as our champion color of winter.  I saw a lot of black everywhere, in clothes, shoes, bags, jewelry.

Image by LaShina via Flickr

But, as much as I love black as the next girl for its slimming powers, sleekness, overall versatility and making whatever style you have look great, it’s nice to see some color in these short, gray days of transitioning to winter.  I actually saw a lot of bright colored shoes with sparkles galore and brightly colored nails, too.

Nails seen in Jen Kao Fall 2011 Runway Show (Image by Olena Frostlander via Flickr)

No matter what the trends are, I’m just excited that the change of seasons gives me a reason to shop for new clothes!  How many of you do a complete overhaul or even just love shopping for different seasons?  Comment below!

In-class video project: Where would you want to wake up?

So today my classmate Hanna and I took to the streets to find out people’s answers to one question: If you could wake up anywhere in the world tomorrow, where would it be?  Not surprisingly, many students were ready to take a break for Thanksgiving, so many said that they wanted to be home.  But, a lot of others preferred the opposite and wished to wake up someplace far, far away.  Check out our video below!

“Through the Looking Glass”

Below are some photos I took from an exhibit on Dale Chihuly’s glass art called “Through the Looking Glass” at the MFA in Boston.  The exhibit was extremely colorful so I thought it’d be a good idea to feature it here, plus his works are awesome!

The exhibit starts off with rippled orange and yellow disks looking like psychedelic UFO's.

A boat filled with colorful glass knicknacks seems to glide across the glass waters.

A vase filled with flowers glints in the light and casts shadows on the ground.

A dazzling array of multicolored patterned Mexican blankets fill up a wall.

Red stalks of grass? Flowers that look like gramophones? Why not? Anything can be found in Chihuly's world

More of Chihuly's kaleidoscopic interpretations of nature

A cherub floats among swirly seashells in a warm golden sea of light.

A frosty blue glass chandelier hangs from the ceiling, looking like an alien tree.

What disco balls will look like in the future!

Fall into Boston

New England is known for its gorgeous fall season and Boston is no exception.  While walking around, I noticed the myriad of colors on the trees and just the beauty of nature changing around us in preparation for winter.  To really get a close up into this fascinating and exiquisite time of the year, I made a Soundslide on fall in Boston.  Here’s the link:

www.bujournalism.com/jo540a1/fallintoboston

 

Fall in New England (Image via Wikipedia)

Gradient of atmospheres on the Charles River in Boston

This gallery contains 5 photos.

In-class photo essay

This gallery contains 5 photos.

A stroll along the Esplanade in Boston on a chilly fall morning        

The magic of makeup

Badass rocker chick, innocent angel, ’80s prom queen, smolderingly sexy…whatever look you want to channel a certain day, makeup can do it all!  Women have been using makeup for decades to slightly spice up their look or completely change how they look.  Here’s a link to a slideshow from glamour.com on how different the same person can look when you tweak a few things about their makeup.

So, how do certain makeup techniques and colors work to make you look scary or sexy or innocent?  Let’s look at a few and try to see the effects certain colors produce when used on your face:

a) The romantic, pretty, cheeks flushed pink with love look:

Image via Wikipedia

• big, bright eyes with long, luscious lashes
• rosy cheeks
• pink or red shiny lips

Your cheeks naturally turn pink when you start blushing after someone gives you a compliment, or if you talk to someone you’re smitten with.  The rosy blush mimics this effect.  Batting your lashes is one of the most easiest and foolproof ways to flirt with someone and hold their attention.  Lashes are obviously best seen when they’re long and dark, and it’s also a sign of youth and health if you have nice lashes, compared with elderly people whose lashes are brittle, short, and maybe white, too.  Lips naturally turn red or some type of rosy when you’re aroused and attracted to someone.  And shiny lips look better than dry, cracked, pale lips, which can be more reminiscent of a feverishly ill girl or a zombie…

b) The badass rocker chic-I-don’t-give look:

• black, black, and lots of black around your eyes!

Image by Adriana Chira via Flickr

We all know that black is the color of badasses all around the world.  Black is worn by vandals, biker gangs, members of the occult, villians, anyone who doesn’t care what the rest of the world thinks of them, who have too much testosterone and an impulse for debauchery.  Eyes are the windows to your soul and what better way to tell people that you’re not all sparkles and pink bows than to layer black upon black upon another swipe of black eyeliner then smudge it all into a dark vortex into your soul?  Black is the opposite of pink–not on the color wheel but in meaning–so it makes sense that a color that’s used to convey that you’re this damsel who radiates beauty and warmth is not used in a look that’s supposed to convey the opposite vibe.

Below is a podcast I made about this if you’d rather listen than read:

The Detriot Lions…harboring a demon on their team?

So while watching the football game between the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, I noticed something that made me go, “Wait, what…?!”

What I saw…was a pair of red eyes.  Yup, a pair of completely red eyes on a big, burly, bald dude with only a goattee…scary.

Image by Jeffrey Beall via Flickr

I of course went to my computer to google what the hell was going on and found out that this guy is Kyle Vanden Bosch–defensive end for the Detriot Lions.  It turns out that Bosch wasn’t celebrating Halloween early nor is a devil or albino, like many speculated, but that he was actually wearing amber-colored sports contact lenses made by Nike that increases contrast so that it’s easier to see balls.  For any of you who’s interested, below is a video taken from Youtube explaining the science behind how this works.

So this made me wonder, “Is he allowed to do that?” because doesn’t he gain an unfair advantage from this?  Is this on the same level as chugging energy drinks before a game or taking protein supplements?  Or is it more like the advantage gained by taking steroids?  I’m not too sure about how unfair of an advantage this is, but nevertheless, it’s definitely got to be intimidating being a player running across the field then suddenly coming face to face with a vampire.  That’s definitely an advantage–being able to freak out guys who are 6′ 5” and weigh 300 pounds.

Either way, it’s definitely not new news that red eyes are creepy.  They conjure up images of evil, Dracula, being possessed, demons…but where does our correlation between red eyes and diabolical intentions come from?  I think it’s because red is a color that has been associated with rage, anger, violence, power, anything that lets you know that something is up and you need to be on alert.  Red symbolizes fire, which has to power to destroy things on a great scale, being able to burn down whole villages and forests, and burning people alive.  Red is the opposite of blue which symbolizes water, without which nothing can grow and there can be no life on Earth.  That’s my opinion on Bosch’s surprising look, but here’s a Storify I made that shows the media’s and other people’s views on Kyle Vanden Bosch’s red eyes.

[View the story “Kyle Vanden Bosch’s red eyes” on Storify]