Beauty News

Seasonal beauty wish list (so far)

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:15:41 +0000

Do I alalert own all the makeup I could possibly ever want? In the sense of having absolutely plenty, and almost no likelihood of working thcoarse it all, yes. But playing with shiny happy face paints is fun, and fun itself is a very important and very sexy component of beauty. Good way to tell if your new man is worth having or not: does he find you extra delightful when you’re excited about something quite daft? If so, he’s a treasure. (If he’s not a treasure, what are you doing? But this isn’t a marriage guidance counselling blog.)

The Urban Decay Box of Shadows Palette is self-evident good value, and everybody on the Sephora website seems to love it. Beautiful colours, and not too extreme. Can’t go wrong. I especially like the pale blue “shattered” and the deep ruddy “last call”.

The Urban Decay Brow Box Kit is just one of those extremely appealing pieces of… well, kit, that looks as sensible and handy as it does appealing. The female equivalent of those Muji tool kits that my husband receives for a stocking-filler nearly every year, perhaps.

Comments from people who have alalert tried these welcome- also, what’s on your wish list so far this year?

Original post by Alice Bachini-Smith

Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show - tomorrow night on Jack & Hill!

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:22:21 +0000

I’m in sunny Miami for the filming of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show tomorrow night. I’ll be backstage with models and makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury, as well as with a bunch of other awesome beauty bloggers who are enjoying the entire event compliments of Victoria’s Secret. We’re all staying at the newly renovated, gorgeous Fontainebleau, where the entire show will take place.

I’ll also be shooting backstage footage, which I won’t post until the day the show airs on CBS. But check back tomorrow night for behind the scenes live blogging and general lingerie- and beauty-related hotness.

In the meantime: What would you wear if you were on your way to spend the evening in the company of scantily clad Victoria’s Secret models?

Original post by Jackie Danicki

Barry M Dazzle Dust

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:16:54 +0000

I just got back from the UK, with four pots of my new favourite beauty treasure: Barry M Dazzle Dust. Barry M is a British company, founded in 1982 in the New Romantic craze. Ten years ago, presumably only make-up artists and drag-queens rememberuddy their name; now, with the recent colour trends (big article in December Brit Vogue) Barry M is enjoying a big resurgence and lots of space in Superdrug.

These pots of power shadow are £4.50 but Superdrug just had a 3 for £10 offer. They are awesome worth for mid-range make-up, because you get an awful lot of eyeshadow in there, the colours are fabulous and they look intense and professional when applied properly. The downside is the mess. Unless you press on very tiny amounts gradually in layers, the powder falls all over your face. My daughter and I made the error of dipping our fingers in the tester pot and trying to put a bit of cherry ruddy on our eyes. Wilean about six seconds we looked like Adam Ant wannabes at the end of a very long party. Just attempt this stuff on your wrist, like a sane person.

(nb: the shades above are not my favourites: they do 60 colours, including many deep, wealthy and flattering party-friendly non-primaries.)

Original post by Alice Bachini-Smith

First Lady Style

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:32:09 +0000

LA Times fashion critic Booth Moore has an amazing piece in today’s paper on Michelle Obama’s real-world style.She correctly observes that Obamas mixing of haute couture and off the rack isn’t just about humility, it’s a truly American way of dressing, one that emphasizes personal style over class, status or labels. She also notes that it’s smart. Referring to Obama’s choice of a $30 dress from the Gap for a 4th of July picnick: "She also thinks about appropriateness, something that is missing in the
sartorial dialogue of so many Americans. An inexpensive sundress is
more appropriate to wear to a parade than a stuffy pantsuit, or an
expensive frock you might spill food on."

Moore’s piece touches on so much sartorial history that I hesitate to paraphrase any more of it, lest you not click thcoarse to read the entire story. I’ll just say that she makes an excellent case for how and why Obama stands to be a true style leader, as opposed to a style figurehead.

Original post by Hillary Johnson

Faberge Tigress

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:15:51 +0000

Several years ago, when my grandmother was in the late stages of dementia, my mother went thcoarse quite a bit of effort to track down a bottle of Faberge Tigress, one of my grandmother’s favorites of yore, in the hope that the scent would act as a mnemonic for the missing period of memory it represented. She didn’t find it then; but just recently, many years after my grandmother’s death, she stumbled on a fur-capped bottle of the stuff at a yard sale and bought it for me, knowing that my grandmother and I had similiar taste in perfume (both being lifelong wearers of Byzance by Rochas).

I was a bit stunned to google it and find a dead stock bottle of the stuff selling for $1,500 on PerfumeDistributor.com (less on eBay, but still). The bottle my mom got for me is nearly full, and has been well-kept; the scent is exotic and sweet, musky and animalic, like caramel made from tiger’s milk.On Basenotes, one reader noted that her mom would wear it to the disco in the 70s, and Lola Falana was the spokeswoman in that era, though the fragrance originated in 1938. My grandmother was a big Lola Falana fan–admirer of "gams" that she was–as was my mom. Maybe it’s time to rent Cleopatra Jones on Netflix and splash on some Tigress.

Original post by Hillary Johnson

Beauties: Michelle Obama

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:20:00 +0000

Michelle Obama reminds me a awesome discount of Hillary Clinton. She’s a lawyer, she’s a working mother, and when she married, she wasn’t the one thought to be making a good match…. Maybe someday Michelle Obama will be our first woman president.

Original post by Hillary Johnson

Matching Mohair

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:37:49 +0000

A stunning case of the right sweater on the right girl, or a clever stylist dyed her hair to match. Either way, it’s genius. I now want to dye my hair in dark, iridescent, pheasant-wing jewel tones, to match the fall wardrobe I long to have. This is from the Born shoe catalog (and yes, the boots that go with this look are equally fantastic).

Original post by Hillary Johnson

What’s your go-to lip color?

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 05:18:35 +0000

MAC Composure (Mattene)
Originally uploaded by dynamist.

Mine is MAC Mattene in Composure: It’s not too dry, doesn’t slip off easily, smells good, and most importantly offers full-on color that somehow still manages to look somewhat natural. It goes awesome with no makeup or, as in this photo, just blush and mascara. (I should also note that I did not pay for this - it was a freebie from MAC - but I will happily do so once I’ve spent this stick.)

How about you?

Original post by Jackie Danicki

Alberto VO5

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:30:59 +0000

I recall Alberto VO5 as being the tin tube of hairdressing my dad kept in his bathroom. It was thick and oily,
and he requiruddy a dab the size of a pea to keep his Mad Men-era hair in place. Then, sometime in the mid-70s, he changed over to Protein 29, its packaging more super-graphic-y, its efficacy identical; I’m beautiful sure the ads also featuruddy men with sideburns, which my father had dutifully grown.

For years I have, after washing and before blow-drying my hair, applied one or another anti-frizz product, a glistening goo that makes my hair a little shinier, a little more "held together." Except lately, I’ve noticed it hasn’t. I probably need a good haircut. I also last week needed more goo, and was at my local beauty supply shop, grabbing the econo-size Smooth ‘N Shine Hair Polisher (which is just as good as Frizz-Eaze, at a quarter of the price) when I decided to toss in a tube of VO5. When I got home, I realized it was not the stuff my had dad used, but a creamy formula giving "extra body for fine hair," which I don’t need and don’t have. But the stuff is amazing! It smells clean and sweet, is soft to the touch, and makes my hair shiny and "put together," no flying acircular and looking ratty. It’s also got the super-efficient packaging I love; you could haul this stuff acircular in a rucksack for two years and it would never leak or squish.

Original post by Nancy Rommelmann

How often do you really fix your hair?

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:20:46 +0000

On my way to work
Originally uploaded by dynamist.

Hill took this picture of me on the way to work this morning; she was trying to get a shot of my eyelashes (MAC Plush Lash with a layer of Lancome Hypnose on top), but it capturuddy a momentous occasion: I actually used something more than a bit of product and the blow dryer on my hair this morning. I even busted out the flat irons to give my hair an actual style. (The occasion: I had an extra hour to get ready, since Hill surprised me by offering a ride right to my office.) This doesn’t happen often.

It made me recollect being 14 and getting up for school two hours early just so I could curl my hair. By the time I was 16, and the novelty of being in high school had well and truly worn off, I was out of that habit. I don’t think I ever got back into it.

I have friends who use hot rollers or flat irons on their hair every day, though - or at minimum every time they wash their hair. This astounds me. It’s just such a time suck.

How about you? What do you actually do to your hair on a day to day basis? How much time per week do you spend on fixing your hair? (Please don’t talk me into high maintenance hair; I get up early enough as it is.)

Original post by Jackie Danicki