Orange Colored Sky

There are certain moments that make you wish real life had background music.  The kind of background music that sets up the first few bits of a movie…when the stars names are alternately splashed and often a big aerial shot of the locale or “busy dealings of the day” scenes eventually roll on to introduce you to the main character.  Think back to The Devil Wears Prada opening with KT Tunstall’s “Suddenly I See” or the 2005 big-screen adaptation of Pride and Prejudice opening with the glorious playing of Jean-Yves Thibaudet.  It just makes you feel like settling in and watching things unfold. 

I had one such moment as the sunset fell to the west of our house yesterday evening.  And although the day was drawing to a close, I could hear Nat King Cole lilting “Orange Colored Sky” while I sat with the kids in the lawn and my hubby tinkered in the garage nearby.

The sunset from our backyard - March 30, 2011



(Tell me: is there anything a little Nat King Cole can’t cure?  Not so sure there is.)  Every living thing around us seemed sparked by the orange glow tinting the sky...and all was right in our world for a moment or two.  Although the scene beyond that didn’t unfold to anything remotely cinematic, I walked back into the house to get the kids into their PJs still basking in the cheerful orange vision.  And I couldn’t help but want to make that “orange feeling” last a little longer…especially as the nightly tug-of-war with two sleepy kidlets who still think they need three more glasses of water and five bedtime stories and fifty stuffed animal friends with them in the bed before they would ever think of closing their eyes {sigh} unfolded.

I admitted to you in my last post that I am an ardent follower of beauty products…and fashion for that matter, if we’re being honest.  As beloved Uncle Harold once said to me, “A little paint never hurt no barn!”  Truer words were never spoken.  I find immense enjoyment in the art of being a woman.  To my utmost delight, the fashion world has declared orange as the color of the season this Spring.  Now’s my chance to bask in the sheer joy of that backyard orange colored sky moment for a while longer!

The April issue of Lucky magazine (on stands now) has a brilliant feature translating a piece of art into a chic outfit.  Lo and behold, look what they translated…

  

Be still my heart.  I love the pop of orange against the burlap dress!

And the brilliant minds and talents behind J. Crew’s 2011 Spring lineup have thusly resuscitated my now rapidly beating heart with their use of bright orange lipstick with EVERYTHING.  So bold, so daring and so 1950s starlet-meets-modern ingénue.  Feminine and oh-so-flattering, as evidenced by the varying complexions and hair colors of the models…a sure sign.

I’ve actually been pining for those J. Crew Spring lips for the last few months, and after some sleuthing discovered J. Crew painted those pouts with NARS’ fabulous matte lipstick in “Heat Wave”.  During a recent trip to Portland, I popped by Blush Beauty Bar – the chic Mecca of barn painting – to see for myself whether “Heat Wave” would induce cold sweats in person.  After a lovely assistant helped me test it, I triumphantly walked forth from Blush Beauty Bar with not only the tube, but a matching OPI nail polish and the will to be as downright daring as those J. Crew models.

If life were like the movies, I could just pause and rewind to my orange colored sky as often as necessary…but alas, I can’t.  A  swipe of “Heat Wave” is certainly enough to evoke that same feeling of cheer and joy, though.  And I love that I can add deeper sentiment to the little luxury of lipstick.  For it’s just as Mr. Nat King Cole said: “I was walking along, minding my business, When out of an orange-colored sky, Flash! Bam! Alakazam!  Wonderful you came by.”  Inspiration often lurks when we’re just minding our business.