Apothecandy

The Great Gatsby OST

I feel that I am the only one that is pathologically obsessed with this story and its soundtrack by Jay-Z. Maybe it’s because I feel like an anachronism in 2013. I always felt that I belonged in the Roaring 20s. Well I am in my roaring 20s but just without the glamorous bob and pretty pearls. 

I like pretty things. Like Florence Welch’s voice in Track 15 of this album. That woman sounds like an angel like always. Always a hint of sadness in her voice but she always leaves the person listening to her voice empowered. The way she throws her voice just kind of reaches into your soul and makes you aware that you have one. Her lyrics are never all that clever from a figurative standpoint but the way she projects them through her sound…just amazing. The ending of this song is just WOW. I can’t wait to see what scene it will make it in the movie. Probably when Daisy and Gatsby make love. That would be one steamy steamy love scene. Heck. I wouldn’t mind making to love to this in the background when I meet my Jay Gatz.

The following track after by The xx is another favorite of mine. Romy’s voice is just so creepily sensual. She is like a siren. “Together” is another sad song when only considering the lyrics but the background music that is characteristic to The xx makes this track more mellow than sad. 

Nero also has a track on this OST. Sounds like walking into a graveyard of robots with their ghosts coming up to do a pop song - AKA modern dubstep. I wonder where it’ll be in the movie. Maybe another love scene.

The rest of the album is very appropriate in terms of being jazzy. The Kid Koala version of Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love” is pretty snazzy. I could definitely see it being in a perfume commercial with Beyonce all glammed up at one of Gatsby’s parties. The fragrance would be called “Speakeasy”. 

That’s just me dreaming and being inspired by this soundtrack. The Daisy in me. Can’t wait until I see the movie this weekend. Always up for a good love story. Since one can’t seem to find me in real life =(

Product Review: Andalou Naturals Pumpkin Honey Glycolic Mask

I’ve been using this product for about a month now applying it once every two weeks while enjoying the spring weather on my back patio. First discovered it at Sprouts Farmers’ Market and got it on sale for under fifteen bucks lured by its brightening properties.

Being an Indian chick of Gujarati origin, fair skin is looked upon favorably and I am naturally born tan. & I just love being out in the sun. Why stay indoors when the weather outside is gorgeous? However ten minutes in the sun for me without putting any SPF loving moisturizer means turning two shades darker. That’s right darker. Not tanner. I was already born tan.

Even though I look down on my heritage’s views towards feminine beauty, that does not stop me from trying products such as this one. To me brightening means to induce a glow. It has nothing to do with melanin content. None of the products in this mask directly impede melanin production so in a way the packaging does show false marketing to the scientifically impaired.

Where’s the hydroquinone? Nowhere to be seen. Instead this mask boasts products such as manuka honey, meadowfoam, and guar. Things that come from a plant. Things that are used in cooking. Edible things. 

The actual mask is bright yellow in color and looks like a puree of all the ingredients shown above. When put on the face, the mask is translucent giving off a yellow undertone. It does not solidify after time but there is tingling maybe due to glycolic acid in the mask. 

I first trusted the idea of a glycolic peel after having my boss pharmacist talk about her good experiences with them. Of course she went to a spa and had a licensed aesthetician pat her face beautiful after paying a lovely fat check. The only fat I have is a fat chance at affording the same luxury. So I play the pretty poor girl and just decide to DIY it through using my mom’s almond peel. 

But the skin needs variety. Can’t eat the same food everyday. That’s just boring.

That’s where I get swayed by this mask with it’s “brightening” properties. My two cents is that this mask cannot be taken literally but it definitely is not something to throw out for being deceptive. It does other good things too. Like evening out my darkened skin. Shrinking my pores even more. Airbrushing my skin without being photographed. Giving me that glow. Brightening me up. Figuratively.

Side effects. I’m jonesing to see that movie with the sexy Jude Law and Rooney Mara. Aren’t they a bitch?

Well not as much as I am. People shouldn’t make me their addiction. Addiction is pleasurable but it can also hurt you. Same thing goes for me. Just a message for my admirers out there. 

I honestly thought this article was kind of crap. Page 236 to 239 in the March issue of Marie Claire. It talks about how antidepressants cause weight gain in women who consume them. It gives anecdotes about how some girls struggled with their self-esteem that came with the weight gain. My humble opinion is that they shouldn’t be on mood stabilizers or antidepressants anyways. If there are too many damsels in distress to save, there is obviously going to be a shortages of knights out there. I am totally being insensitive right now but that’s just who I am. My insensitivity keeps me from being a consumer of this candy. I guess I choose to be skinny & crazy. 

The article goes on to slander big pharma (of course). I’m not saying that big pharma should be respected but it shouldn’t be blamed either. The only ones to blame are people themselves. Big pharma does its part in documenting the side effects but people still take the risks and then slander big pharma for being evil. If it’s not on your prescription bottle, it’s published in a peer reviewed article online and an active consumer should be smart enough to do their homework. 

The only thing I kind of liked about the article was the idea about creating your own support groups to address the weight gain. I’m the one to like to fight my battles all alone and convince myself that I’m victorious because I’m on my own but I’ve got to admit I wouldn’t have made it without my support group. They don’t even have to be a group of friends. Just those strangers that admire you. The ego is a hungry beast and it lurks in all of us. Once fed, it helps you make it through the dessert. & you are wet & alive. 

Just ten cents coming from a dime who has no intention of being spent.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch of Kale
• 1 Roma tomato
• 2 cooked chicken breasts (shredded)
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 1/2 white onion
• 1 prepared pizza crust (8 inch diameter)
• *your own personal rendition of tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup of mushrooms
• 10 sliced olives
• 10 sliced jalapenos
• 1 teaspoon of parsley
• 1 pound of shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 whole zucchini thinly sliced 

Pre-heat the crust in the oven (while it’s still reaching 350) and layer the thinly sliced zucchini like pepperoni covering the entire crush. Drizzle some olive oil atop.

Chop the Kale, red bell pepper, green bell paper, onion, mushroom, olives, jalapenos, parsley with a kitchen knife into fine pieces. Mix the vegetable in a salad bowl.

After 10 minutes (or when the crust is partially baked) take the crust out of the oven. Layer on the tomato sauce, layer on the shredded chicken and uniformly spread the vegetable mixture.  Put back in oven for 15 minutes.

Slice the tomatoes into circular slices. Take the pizza out of the oven and layer the tomatoes in a flower-like silhouette. Drizzle the mozzarella until the vegetable & meat underneath is not visible. 

Put back into the oven for another 10 minutes. 

Cut into four pieces and serve with crushed red pepper flakes.

Not only is this the title of the only Virginia Woolf novel I own but it also describes my minimalist beauty regimen for the winter that is about to pass.

This is the only thing I choose to put on my face. I’m a fan of naked skin. & I believe paint belongs on paper. Back in high school I was notorious for using my mom’s old blood red 90s lipstick for any red I had to put on my poster board. The color palette looked something like this: 

red - lipstick, old nail polish 

orange - mortar & pestled carrot shavings

yellow - tumeric in water

green - dead rose leaves with a dash of matcha in hot water

blue - paint. haven’t found anything to give me this shade

brown - parent’s chai steep leftover, used CG foundation for skin color once and topped it off with the chai. Result was pleasing

black - old kohl eyeliner, black lipstick from Halloween

Oil of Olay was first introduced to me by my mother back in high school. She noticed that during the winter months, I would have extremely dry skin on my face so she dabbed on some of her moisturizer to make her little doll look presentable. I’ve been a fan since. It has been about 6 years since I’ve been using Olay’s moisturizer. It has definitely improved the texture of my skin so in addition to having lovely hair, in the past couple of years I’ve came to have lovely skin as well. Usually I am allergic to cosmetics that go on the face but Olay is an exception. I’ve decided to look up the ingredient that distinguishes Olay and found that the Oil of Olay has the key ingredient of lanolin. 

According to a 1998 article in the Journal of Pharmacology, lanolin has the ability to form stable nanoemulsions when exposed to high rates of shear. For this reason, lanolin is an ideal ingredient in lotions and creams. In the article by Flockhart, Steel & Kitchen, they found out that lanolin is an effective drug delivery vehicle in transdermal delivery. Also in another study, lanolin was compared to white petrolatum (Vaseline) and it turned out to be much better in healing dry skin.

Being effective in penetrating the transdermal layer of the skin and being an effective skin protectant, it is understandable why lanolin is the key ingredient in the different anti-aging creams Olay has to offer. A lot of moisturizers out there just work on the surface of the skin and require reapplication. However with the lanolin in Olay, this is not necessary because of its penetrative effects. Proctor & Gamble’s research and development did well. Because of their scientific genius, the only face I paint is those on a canvas.

Well actually it’s just grass.

Recently my parents have gotten into downing wheatgrass shots for health benefits and the picture above is my mom’s mini wheatgrass garden.

Being the emerging scientist that I am, I decided to investigate whether these shots were fashionably healthy rather than evidence based healthy. 

Of course I researched the topic with a biased third eye after first hearing about them through Kim Kardashian’s Instagram. To me they were just another placebo. Placebos are however effective. 

Turns out that a lady named Ann Whigmore popularized this green juice back in the 80s and was sued for it by the Massachusetts Attorney General for her claims that this potion of hers can cure various disease. Decades later, the green juice made a comeback and South Asian researchers published studies promoting the health benefits of this beverage. The story was announced on a popular desi radio station & viola! Majority of my family grazes on the grass like cattle.

Even though there was only a limited amount of peer-review literature available on the health benefits of wheatgrass, there is some consistency on noting that the magic ingredient is chlorophyll. 

In an article from the International Institute for Science, Technology & Education, chlorophyll is regarded as a savior of a decaying moral body. 

In my humble opinion, I think people should just eat more plants raw if they’re looking for that chlorophyll trip. Remember from biology class, the thing that makes plants green is chlorophyll. This pigment is not only restricted to wheatgrass. It’s in anything green.

Well maybe not green grapes. Those are just full of wrath.