Less than illuminating
InStyle (February) has a two-page article called “10 Ways to Look Better Naked.” The first one is “Turn on the lights,” which demanded I read further:
We know that trick: Clothes come off, lights go out. But according to L.A. interior designers Ron Woodson and Jaime Rummerfield, there’s a more exciting alternative to getting frisky in the dark. “Amber light casts skin in a warm, rosy glow,” says Woodson, who suggests placing a red-hued bulb in bedside lamps and painting your ceiling a barely there shade of peach or pink to enhance the effect.
The bulbs illustrated, you may be sure, are good old-fashioned incandescent bulbs, so you might want to grab some now while you still can. (There are colored CFL bulbs, but do you trust them to give you the right color? Most of them can barely serve up an acceptable version of white.)
When I first saw this mentioned on the cover, though, my most immediate thought was “You should date me. There’s no chance I’ll look better than you do, and I’ll be too grateful to notice any alleged imperfections.” Not that I’d actually recommend that to anyone, of course.
(Is this mere Googlebait? What do you think?)
fillyjonk »
27 January 2010 · 7:43 am
And I suppose people who have a real thing for Mr. Spock might seek out green bulbs, for that healthy Vulcan glow.
CGHill »
27 January 2010 · 8:06 am
I had a green bulb once. I have no idea what for, which perhaps proves that memory can heal itself.
CGHill »
28 January 2010 · 11:13 pm
Glossed Over takes a dim view of this article, bulbs notwithstanding:
canadienne »
29 January 2010 · 3:21 pm
CFL’s seem to be deficient in blues, so a red CFL should be just fine for the purpose.
http://www.jasonmorrison.net/content/2009/how-do-led-lightbulbs-compare-to-cfl-and-incandescent/
I assume a continuous spectrum isn’t necessary to create a rosy glow.
CGHill »
29 January 2010 · 8:08 pm
My one CFL story for the week: I got home, turned on the light in the living room, and … nothing.
Omigod, the power’s out, I said, quite understandably considering there was a nasty winter storm going on, but conveniently forgetting that I’d just parked in the garage, the door of which was opened by an electric-powered gizmo.
This particular fixture — I have two such — is sort of recessed: there’s a square frosted-glass lens that slides in and out of a wooden frame. Not difficult to get at, compared to some fixtures around here, but I had to haul in the stepladder, and that was motivation enough to install a CFL, since I hate having to haul in the stepladder. (I had two in reserve, along with half a dozen Old-Fashioned Bulbs.) I haven’t decided whether things look worse in the room or not.
canadienne »
29 January 2010 · 11:58 pm
I work with artists and photographers and so decided to finally investigate the color quality of the CFL, before somebody asks me. That site was kind of interesting, but I think I need to do more research, see if I can find some better charts. My experience is that reds also seem muted with CFL’s, so I’m not sure how the flattering red-filter strategy would work. Better to stick with conventional incandescents for that.
And yup, I think that might just be Googlebait.
CGHill »
30 January 2010 · 12:15 am
Well, we’ll find out if anyone was baited in a future installment of “Strange search-engine queries.”
I’m thinking that eventually LEDs will do these tricks a bit more seamlessly, though my major concern with any sort of bulb right now is “Can I use it over the kitchen sink?” Inconvenient location, at least in terms of access for bulb changes, and the glass bowl fits snugly into the base, which seems to be Bad News for CFLs. (The only one I ever had die, I’d mounted in that very fixture.) On the upside, if you want to call it an upside, the likelihood of, um, getting frisky in that area of the house is somewhere between “infinitesimal” and “zilch.”
canadienne »
30 January 2010 · 1:56 pm
Huh, I was thinking the googlebait was on the part of the original site, not you, but let us know how it works out.
The very thought of getting frisky in the vicinity of the kitchen sink seems icky to me. Also uncomfortable.