Product Review: Aveda Dry Remedy Daily Moisturizing Oil (Updated, with Ingredients)

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According to Cosmetics Business, Aveda has just reformulated its Dry Remedy haircare range, designed “to quench dry hair, tame frizz, tackle flyways and add shine. The key product—Daily Moisturizing Oil—is a bottle of the oil itself, intended as a daily leave-in treatment, harvested from the fruit of the moriche palm tree.”

I received a tiny, trial-size tube of Daily Moisturizing Oil the last time I shopped at Aveda, and I’ve been finding it very useful and effective in my efforts to protect my hair from cold, harsh winter air and dry, over-heated interiors. Aveda isn’t the first brand to incorporate buriti oil into its products—L’Occitane offered buriti-enriched skincare and haircare in 2008—but this oil appeals to me because it is so simple and focused.

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Quick Reads: Barbara Nessim Interview on Huffington Post

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Just this past fall, my friend Angie introduced me to the artist Barbara Nessim. Angie and Barbara became friends through their years of working together, and Angie thought that I would enjoy meeting Barbara and having the chance to speak with her in person about her art, which was recently shown in a retrospective exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. She was right!

Huffington Post has just interviewed Barbara about her career as an illustrator, the “feminine” qualities of her art, and her friendship with Gloria Steinem, among other topics. You can read the interview (and see a few examples of her work) here.

Image: Barbara Nessim, Portrait of a Young Maid Ready To Go (1968), via Huffington Post.

Covet: Gifts from Cognitive/Surplus

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I’ve attended several holiday gift markets in the New York City over the past two weekends, and in addition to sampling local edibles and picking up a few treats for myself, I did manage to accomplish some Christmas shopping. One of the stand-out vendors that I encountered, whose products will still appeal to me even when the gift-giving season has ended, was Cognitive/Surplus.

Cognitive/Surplus is a NYC-based team of artisans whose witty, lively products and consistent brand aesthetic really impressed me. I also enjoyed meeting the C/S founders, Geoff and Kristen Zephyrus, whose combined backgrounds in science and design have inspired them to create “smart, sustainable, snazzy” gifts that bring out the beauty of science in every day life.

For example?

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Just Because: Cupids and Psyche Making Perfume

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I’ve never been to the Getty in Los Angeles, but if ever do make the trip, I’ll be keeping an eye out for this antique fresco depicting three cupids and Psyche preparing perfume. Look at the cabinet at left, with its shelves of scent bottles!

Image: Fresco fragment with Cupids and Psyche making perfume, third quarter of 1st century, fresco, The J. Paul Getty Museum, 72.AG.81. You can view the full object record here.