December 2007

Make Up For Ever Diamonds For Ever

Just in for the holiday Make Up For Ever Diamonds For Ever Limited Edition Holiday Eye & Lip Makeup Kit.  Marylin said it best: “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend” so treat yourself or your makeup obsessed loved ones with this fabulous Make Up For Ever very sparkling collection. The new Make Up For Ever Diamonds For Ever limited-edition gift set comes in a shimmering gift box, inside you find a tote-able, black vanity pouch with a mirror and plenty of room for the glittering collection of diamond-reflecting eye and lip shades.

Diamonds For Ever Eye & Lip Make-up Kit includes:
New Diamonds Powder #11-a fairy dust like powder in a champagne hue, consisting of ultra fine ’mother of pearl particle’ for ultra shimmering effect.
New Diamond Shadow #301-a highly pigmented, pearly white shadow inflected with innovative micro-fine ‘mother of pearl’ particles.
Waterproof Lengthening Mascara-an intensely black formula that is water-proof  and non-flaking, with special film-forming polymers that lengthen lashes.
Aqua Eye #1L-a creamy pearly eye liner that is water-proof, smudge-proof ans extremely long lasting.
Fascinating Lip Gloss-a sheer, iridescent gloss of sweet mango scent  and enriched with ‘mother of pearl’ particle for extra sparkle and ultra shine.

Available at Sephora, Sephora.com from November 2007 (a $110 value).  

Eye makeup, Lips, Make Up For Ever. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Source: Make Up For Ever Diamonds For Ever

This Weekend’s Splendid Reads [ShoeBlitz - Shoe Fashions]

From around the Splendicity community, comes the best posts of the week.

BEAUTY
Beauty and Fashion Tech has Great Beauty Books for Holiday Gifts.
Viva Woman checks out what’s the correct sunblock dosage to get sufficient coverage.
Temptalia shares her beauty-themed Holiday Gift Guide for Your Very Best Friend!
Beauty Secrets Revealed is Running A Christmas Contest.
Ellen from Spa Beautifully is curious about Intraceuticals Rejuvenation Infusion facial that is now being offered in Toronto.

FASHION
Style…A Work in Progress has found some beautiful artwork for your wallet.
Indie Style File becomes obsessed with Dace.
ShoeBlitz finds some of the ugliest shoes of the winter.
Stiletto Jungle is giving away a hot new My Hip-T every week, all December long.
Aging Fabulous says that these pajamas are a must have for those of us 40+.

SHOPPING
Her Accessories has put together a list of her Top 10 Accessory Christmas Gift Picks for under $30.
NY Spender shares her holiday gift guide.
Shopalicious has found the antidote to the holiday blues in this snazzy clutch!
Watch out for The Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway on ShopDiary beginning on December 10.
All That & A is compiling wishlists for the holidays. What’s on yours?
CelebLOOK gives us three options when trying to find a sexy LBD like Kate Hudson’s.

beauty, beauty trends, fashion, fashion trends, shopping, shopping deals, splendicity, splendid reads

Source: This Weekend’s Splendid Reads [ShoeBlitz - Shoe Fashions]

Beauty News: Holiday Deals From Bombshell Bargains!

If you don’t know already Bombshell Bargains (an online beauty store based in Vancouver, BC my ol’ stomping grounds!) has started their giant End-of-Year sale! Check out their amazing freebies (M.A.C., Nars, Bobbi Brown to name a few!), scratch and dent deals and 2 for 1 deals! You’ll definitely find the perfect gift for every makeup junkie you know! Hurry now because things are selling out quickly! Happy Holiday Shopping!

Source: Beauty News: Holiday Deals From Bombshell Bargains!

*Vinyl Duffle Bag… to go [Shopaholics Daily]

This is perfect for tossing into the back of the van for those quick trips to visit the parents… or just a weekend get-away. I especially love the fact that it molds to whatever room there is available. And yes, I’m just going to have to learn to put everything I need into that size of a bag. And, I am getting better!

Anyone heading out to the parents for Christmas??

Available at American Apparel

Technorati Tags: Bags and Purses, packing for weekend trips, Shopaholics Daily, vinyl duffle bag

Source: *Vinyl Duffle Bag… to go [Shopaholics Daily]

Toothbrush Can Make Your Skin Glow ! [Beauty Gizmo]

I was burning the midnight oil blogging while me and my good buddy slash beauty blogger Phoebe were discussing great beauty blogs that had great makeup tutorials. Michelle Phan must be one of the most famous bloggers that maintains a makeup tutorial blog, and I love her looks because she manages to pull off a natural, but striking look using makeup, not over the top, not overly done ( that’s how makeup should be done! )

One thing intrigued me though - her skin care routine! See, she has perfect, perfect skin, and her secret just happens to be…a toothbrush! Yes, she considers a toothbrush a great beauty tool to be substituted with face brushes out there. Take a look at this tutorial, and see for yourself! Amazing!

What do you think? Are you game enough to try this?

beauty blog, skin care, toothbrush

Source: Toothbrush Can Make Your Skin Glow ! [Beauty Gizmo]

Great Vogue Editions Think Alike: China Battles Japan Over Coat [Rag Trade]

• Oh no! The sameJohn Galliano coat appears on the cover of both Vogue China and Vogue Japan this month? You think they got them mixed up??? [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• Celeb fragrances? We know, you were worried the whole industry was dying! But no. New scents from Jennifer Lopez, Tim McGraw, Sean “Jay-Z” Carter’s Rocawear, and Christina Aguilera will all be out within the year and the word on the street is that Jennifer Aniston is going to be the next star to get smelly. [WWD, sub req’d]
  
• Botox is getting a competitor! They would show concern, but their faces no longer register emotion. [WSJ]
  
• Isaac Mizrahi the Holiday-Themed-Cabaret-Show? Seriously, those are the greatest words ever placed in consecutive order. [Fashion Week Daily]

• Former Pete Doherty fiance/model Irina Lazarau and son-oh-John-and-Yoko Sean Lennon provided the soundtrack for the Chanel Maisons d’Art fashion show yesterday. Also, the show supposedly had an English countryside chic theme. Also, the models all sported beehives. Um, why do none of these facts add up? [Vogue UK]
• Yves Saint Laurent: now a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor! President Nicolas Sarkozy presented the designer with the honor at Saint Laurent’s home yesterday. Catherine Deneuve was there to watch. [WWD, 3rd item]
• Moncler, makers of schmancy puffy coats, has partnered with the Swiss Skiing School of St. Moritz in a Project Runway-esque move of providing uniforms for their ski instructors. How do you know when you are really, really rich? Taking lessons from those guys might be your first clue. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Shocker: New York department store Henri Bendel has seen a surge in popularity (and the dollars popularity brings) since getting name-dropped left and right on Gossip Girl. Bonus: the actresses who play S and B have taken to shopping there for reals. [Um, we’re on a first initial basis with these girls now, Jen? Just checking. -Moe] [WWD, 5th item]
• Model Karen Elson just signed to a new modeling agency, which is interesting only because we are still getting over the fact that she is the mother of the children of Jack White. [Vogue UK]
• We resent being told how to wash our face. [BellaSugar]

Source: Great Vogue Editions Think Alike: China Battles Japan Over Coat [Rag Trade]

slaughterhead wallets: they actually fit your stuff [Indie Style File]

There I was standing in line at Trader Joe’s. The woman before me had just finished up so I moved over, but she was still fumbling with her money.

“These wallets, they’re so small!” she said.

“Oh, I know what you’re talking about,” I said. “They don’t seem to want anyone to fit anything in them.”

We laughed. The checkout guy smiled awkwardly. He had no idea what we were talking about. He’s a dude. But yes, women’s wallets are so woefully inadequate for all the crap we need to carry.

But hurray! Slaughterhead has these big XL Unisex wallets that are super pretty as well as functional ($33)
Beat that, mean designers.

Link

slaughterhead, wallet

Source: slaughterhead wallets: they actually fit your stuff [Indie Style File]

Must-Have: Wicking Pajamas. [Aging Fabulous]

I get the night sweats now and then. Sometimes it is right before my period, and sometimes it is just plain old unpredictable. I can’t stand it when I wake up with soaked pj’s.

I was doing a bit of searching for a solution and I am so happy to have found Moisture Wicking Pajamas.

These pajamas are designed to help keep us cool and keep the moisture and wetness away from the skin, so we wake up dry - not drenched in sweat.

I am ordering a pair right now. These are made by Wildbleu Wicking Sleepwear and available at SereneComfort.com.

And they are pretty cute, don’t you think?

Source: Must-Have: Wicking Pajamas. [Aging Fabulous]

Get Her Look: The Sexy Carmen Electra. [Celeb Look]

 Short and Sexy - Carmen Electra always does both really well.
This is a perfect New Years Eve dress, and we found a few similar ones right at our favorite Nordstrom.
Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent Mirrored Shift Dress $320.00
Maggy London Floral Overlay Dress $128.00

Now, go get your sexy celeb look on.

Source: Get Her Look: The Sexy Carmen Electra. [Celeb Look]

The Awe Factor

As with any hobby/interest, there are always established hierarchies of awe that are instilled into us regarding insider figures.  In the case of fashion, this is probably even more exaggerated.  Let me rewind.  So I’m 12 yrs old having spent all my Chinese New Year’s lucky money on amateurish books about fashion sketching and having read up every crusty fashion history books there are and I’m in awe of Paul Poiret, Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent.  The biggies.  My knowledge of fashion is pretty much shallow if not non-existent but it is when I first discover the mysticism of fashion and the I get the feeling that there are ‘closed doors’ in this industry.  I then shelve the idea of becoming a designer and throw my head into the ‘academic’ stuff that I’m on familiar territory with.

Fast forward to when I’m 17.  I’m now buying all the glossies and fashion tomes like there’s no tomorrow.  The people I read about are fully instilled as awesome figures in my mind, overly statuesque even.  I gorge on interviews with designers and photographers and when there are rare interviews with the top notch editors/stylists, I practically ravage them.  It’s the art of fashion that I’m obsessed with.  What sort of an effect these clothes are having on the wearer.  What the designers studios might look like.  What working at a magazine might be like.  What’s going on behind the scenes of the clothes.  What do the clothes actually look/feel like in person.  The awe factor has set upon me regarding fashion. 

Then at 22, the reason why I started Style Bubble was because of this awe.  Some people may read this blog and think ‘My my this is someone who doesn’t really understand the ins and outs of the industry’ and it is true that ,my writing has been described as rather ‘child-like’ and ‘pure’ (this is both a criticism and a compliment…). 

Besides the ACTUAL clothes though, which is ‘apparently’ what fashion centres around (though I’m inclined to believe otherwise sometimes…), other paraphanalia forms a protocol behind the fashion ‘industry’ - attending fashion shows, the after parties, press discounts, press days, goodie bags, PR’s press releases, the coaxing ‘you-scratch-back-I’ll-scratch-your’s’ attitude that exists in fashion.  This was all completely alien to me up until recently since I started writing Style Bubble and gradually, the mystique and enclosed world of the fashion industry opens up a little and I end up taking a peek inside.          

I used to post on an obsessive basis on the forum The Fashion Spot for a good few years (sadly I’m so bogged down with the blog, I’m rather inactive these days…), and I notice that the awe of fashion is everywhere.  Especially for those who aren’t in the industry  Members would write about what they would give to see a show, congratulating people for ’spotting’ a model/designer and basically wanting to know as much insider information as possible.  I’m not ashamed to own up to this sort of awe that hopefully will probably remain with me.   

As fashion becomes less insular and closed-up going into the 21st century and as I’ve begun to step slowly inside those industry circles, I’m saddened to discover that there exists people who are so jaded by fashion that their attitude seems bored and cold.  That people seem to be at shows to scoop up goody bags or to bump into the ‘right’ people to make the ‘right’ connections’ as opposed to the actually looking at the clothes.  My excitement about clothes to some seems amateur and green and perhaps that is true.  Perhaps to some, I will seem incredibly uncool and disctinctly UN-fashionable for getting excited about meeting designers, seeing their work, reading their biogs/press releases, seeing their shows as I treat these as privileges not obligations.  My awe is still there and I’m continually fascinated by what fashion is creating/showing and of course even more interested in the effect of all of this on what we, the consumers actually wear  I gush about things because it’s all genuine gushing and I don’t say things to illicit a favour in return.      

This is supposed to act as a little ‘end of 2007′ note similar to the one I wrote about internet fame last year so what I’m really trying to say is that the awe factor with regards to fashion, going into 2008, is still very much there and I’m not going to say otherwise.  No, you won’t find me shooting ‘vole stoat’ bored looks at fashion events.  No, you won’t find me moaning that there isn’t enough champagne at such and such a party.  No, you won’t find me bitching that I didn’t get such and such a seat at a show.  At the end of the day, I’m grateful for opportunities, invitations and realising that nothing is a RIGHT of mine to take.  Whilst my original statement regarding this blog is that I’m a fashion outsider commenting on the inside - that statement is still true in the sense that though I am getting the chance to see the inside fashion world, my outlook is still very much that of an outsider, of someone on the periphery.  Maybe it’s because of my very strong sense of awe.    

Source: The Awe Factor