Micellar water review

micellar water review via besotted blog

I often heard stories of people (not naming names) that would go to bed with make-up on and I’d think ‘how tired and lazy do you have to be to not wash your face at night?’  Cut to 2015 where I can tell you exactly how tired and lazy I am with my skincare regime. I admit I have not gone to sleep with make-up on yet, it’s actually a miracle these days that I do actually wear it. I have tried the cleansing towlette’s but didn’t have much success with them, some were too perfumy, others burned, one was perfumy and burned, I always felt like my face wasn’t that clean and ended up splashing water on it and well if I am going that far I might as well have just washed my face, right?  My friend who knows I am beauty-phile asked me about Micellar water and if I had any recommendations, first of all I have been living under a rock so no I had no recommendations and I had never even heard of the product before but of course my curiosity was peaked. I think my friend inadvertently saved both me and my skin, because I may have found the holy grail of skincare products perfect for dry/sensitive skin and for someone too lazy/tired to wash their face.Read More

Wilma’s World : Good advice from a good dog

Wilma's-World-iii-via-Besottedblog

Wilma's-World-ii-via-Besottedblog

I first came upon artist Rae Dunn’s charming Wilma on Instagram and immediately fell hard.  I am supposing that’s where the rest of the world + Chronicle books found her as well and I am assuming got hooked just like moi. It’s really hard not to fall for this pup with the distinct airplane ears and puppy dog eyes. I have to admit being privy to Rae Dunn’s world via Wilma is an absolute delight, everything is wonderfully textured, curated and wabi sabi, just the way I love it. When Michelle sent me the link to Wilma’s new book I ordered for both myself and E. she loves a good pup book, you? You can take a peek into Wilma’s world via Rae’s Instagram feed and of course you can order the book here. For those unfamiliar with Rae’s work (gasp! you are going to love!) we thought these dog + cat bowls were pretty sweet.

Author / Miss Tristan B

Miss Tristan B. is the co-creator of the world’s best + easiest product photography tool-Foto Rx | Shopkeeper’s Helper and one of the writer’s of this delightful blog. Her lofty goal here is to make this a creative resource repository and to inspire you to fall truly, madly, deeply in love with your life.

Inspiration Rx | Vivian Maier

vivian maier chicagoland via artsy.net

We have written about Ms. Maier before when her archives were first discovered (such an amazing story). Her observant eye that was able to capture such perfect moment’s in time; observation’s that may have been overlooked by someone not as in tune with her surroundings. This is a great lesson if you feel you just have nothing to shoot, write, draw…if you go through her prolific portfolio’s you will see that she must have done a lot of just walking about, observing and shooting. As that iconic PNW athletic company would say, ”Just do it’!

I was contacted last night by a company called Artsy that asked that we include additional information that they had collected on Ms. Maier’s behalf. Since she is such an enigma I was happy to oblige. I was really immediately hooked by their mission:

We strive to make all of the world’s art accessible to anyone. Our Vivian Maier page, for example, includes her bio, 110+ images of her works, exclusive articles about Vivian Maier, as well as her exhibitions.

I knew this was going to be an excellent resource for anyone that needed a little shot of Inspiration|Rx! Words that come to mind for Ms. Maier’s work (and if you are new to her, we hope you are equally as charmed by the story + discovery) are:

Mysterious. Observant. Quotidian.

Perhaps, these images and words will be a nice start for shooting, writing, drawing, lettering, cooking…? Whatever medium you choose to be creative this week. If you do find you are moved we would love to peek, use the hashtag #inspirationrx on your fave social media site or link in the comments below so we can visit and ooh and aah over your creativity!

P.S. If you want to delve more into Vivian Maier’s world there is a documentary and book. Michelle and I saw an exhibit here in Seattle and Ms. Maier’s work is absolutely fascinating, like a fly on the wall coupled with time travel.

Author / Miss Tristan B

Miss Tristan B. is the co-creator of the world’s best + easiest product photography tool-Foto Rx | Shopkeeper’s Helper and one of the writer’s of this delightful blog. Her lofty goal here is to make this a creative resource repository and to inspire you to fall truly, madly, deeply in love with your life.

Banana Cake with Dulce de Leche and Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

spring banana cake via besotted

Now, I don’t want to give you the impression that cakes and other goodies are always in the oven around here, or that I knew from the get-go that Scotch taping a few blossoms to a verbena branch would make for a delightful cake topper, or that the kitchen didn’t look like I had tossed flour and powdered sugar around like confetti for an hour or two. Baking is an occasional diversion I’m content to dabble in. It usually (not always) results in a tasty treat, and if not – well, at least it makes the house smell nice!

This dreamy cake was baked for an intimate unbirthday dinner in honor of one of our dearest friends. No birthday cards allowed, no candles on the cake, no “hope this year is your best,” etc. (however, we do manage to sneak in a few gifts with a coy “oh hey – pure coincidence, this is definitely NOT a birthday gift, but we just happened to have this box, and ribbon, and we came across these trinkets the other day that we thought you might like.”). The evening was wonderfully cozy and full of the sort of conversation and laughter that comes naturally with a group of close friends. And the cake? Even the most die-hard chocolate fans raved and wanted more! It was richly dense (but not too dense), moist, and full of banana / caramel / maple cream cheese flavor. So, if you are looking for something deliciously different for a birthday (or unbirthday) celebration, Easter dessert, or simply to perk up an average Wednesday night, I highly recommend giving this recipe a try!Read More

New brush lettering font!

brush letterring font via besotted blogAngie B. is at again with a beauty of a new font, speaking of beauty she made the font for the graphic I did of ‘beautiful’.  Angie seems to be developing some very true to life hand-lettered fonts that are always an affordable price for the quality. I just spotted this beauty of a brush font today and at $14 it’s a steal, go get it here!

Author / Miss Tristan B

Miss Tristan B. is the co-creator of the world’s best + easiest product photography tool-Foto Rx | Shopkeeper’s Helper and one of the writer’s of this delightful blog. Her lofty goal here is to make this a creative resource repository and to inspire you to fall truly, madly, deeply in love with your life.