January 2008

Bunnyshop Hearts: Various Beauty Products

In today’s reader-submitted Bunnyshop Hearts!

i present to you the only makeup i wear (and I generally look the same at night as I do in the morning, meaning this stuff lasts all freaking day):

Benefit Realness of Concealness ($30)
Seems like a lot for sample sizes, but everything is the right color/consistency (except the lip plumper, but whatever) and it fits in my bag.

Sonia Kashuk Cheek Sheer in Beachbabe ($7.99)
Good for washed-out blondes (holla!) high on the cheekbones.

Kiss Me Mascara
Again, expensive, but the only mascara I’ve ever come close to finishing. Never any clumping/smudging, and even though I’m going blind from computer eye strain and always messing with my eyes, only minor flakeage every once in a while.

sincerely, L.

We love these!

Source: Bunnyshop Hearts: Various Beauty Products

Designer Handbags More than 50% Off at European Outlet [Just a Formality]

If you’re into designer handbags and looking for a deal, europeanoutlet.com offers amazing discounts.  I saw some Fendi bags on the site reduced from $1,500 to $385.  Sweet.  If you’re paying with a credit card, you’ll have to have a PayPal account.  Products are gauranteed, and they accept returns and exchanges, but there is a re-stocking fee.  They ship worldwide. 

I’ve never purchased from this site before, so proceed with the same amount of caution as you would when buying anywhere else online.  The fact that they don’t process their credit card orders directly and go through PayPal instead, tells me that this is probably a smaller operation.

If you end up buying from them, please come back and leave a comment and let us know what your experience was like, so that others can benefit from your recommendations.  Thanks, and happy shopping!

If you got to this article by some other means than the official website, please visit justaformality.com to view the homepage (and more articles like this one).

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Source: Designer Handbags More than 50% Off at European Outlet [Just a Formality]

Susan Faludi: Hillary Is Hated Not Because She’s a Woman, But Because She’s A Mother [Falutin’ Faludi]

Manhattan broadsheet the New York Observer scored quite the coup this week, signing up author Susan Faludi to take on the controversial new anthology about Hillary Clinton Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary: Reflections By Women Writers. Derided by other critics as narcissistic (among other things), the book is not one of Faludi’s favorites either: the feminist pundit describes it as “a good deal of convenient psychologizing, self-absorbed meanderings and unearned snipes” and all but calls it sexist, asking readers to imagine its conceit applied to male writers and a male presidential candidate: “Inside, we would find ruminations on the male candidate’s doggy looks and flabby pectorals; musings on such ‘revealing’ traits as the candidate’s lack of interest in backyard grilling, industrial arts and pets… We would hear a great deal about how the candidate made them feel about themselves as men and whether they could see their manhood reflected in the politician’s testosterone displays. … And we would hear virtually nothing about the candidate’s stand on political issues.”

With that out of the way, Faludi focuses in on whypeople hate Hillary so much, pointing to a culture in which only younger women are prized and writing that once women’s “30-years-old freshness date has expired… [they] are out of luck — there’s no matriarchy to step in to offer wisdom and hand over the reins.” She also argues that Clinton, because of her age and her potency, gets associated with “mother” in a primal way, and that the country’s penis-obsessed Portnoys subconsciously regard her as “the smothering, devouring American Mom whose power male writers have been shuddering under since at least the 1950’s.”

For all the hosannas over young women advancing in competitive sports or Katie Couric snagging the CBS News anchor slot, we continue to have no tradition and no real image of public female authority. As [Vanity Fair writer Leslie] Bennetts observes in her essay, ‘A woman can become Speaker of the House, but Nancy Pelosi has to cloak her authority in gender mufti by describing her ability to order congressmen around as using her ‘mother-of-five voice.’ A female can’t just be strong and forceful and direct in her decision making; she has to revert to being a mom, which we all know is her primary role anyway.’

Is that really the problem? Are Americans working out their mommy issues in the polling booths instead of the therapist’s office? Or is Faludi just participating in some theoretical mental masturbation in the name of taking the piss out of the patriarchy? Hell if I know, but I’m definitely sick of talking about Hillary and “feelings”. Maybe brilliant American essayists like Katha Pollitt and Dahlia Lithwick can start talking about Hillary’s policies instead, and soon.

Hillary and the Feminine Gaze, Up Close and Personal [NY Observer]

Earlier: 30 Women Hate On Hillary In 30 Different Ways

Source: Susan Faludi: Hillary Is Hated Not Because She’s a Woman, But Because She’s A Mother [Falutin’ Faludi]

Reader Mail: The Pocket Dress

In today’s Reader Mail!

Dearest BS,

We are coping with Cincinnati’s 20 degree weather this week by planning our spring wardrobe. We’re loving this dress trend, and are all about fun, flowing dresses with pockets on the sides this spring. Particularly this Diane von Furstenberg number. Can we say gorgeous? Yes, we can.

Alas, it lies out of our reach, as we are trying to save money for our future world travels. Can you aid us in our search for something a tad more reasonable?

Much love,
-J. in Cincy

Oh! We love Cincinnati! Maybe we will have our next Bunnyshop swap there. We are longtime visitors, specifically in what we believe is the Kenwood area. And our favorite thing about it: obviously, the Gold Star Chili, and stopping there at midnight, and going home to our bestest-type friend Nicole’s house and watching Project Runway.

Anyway! There is nothing in the entire world we recommend saving money for, more than future world travels—we’re doing the same thing ourselves. And then, in the meantime, the need to wear clothes. Preferably cute clothes, and, in this case, clothes with pockets. We really like that dress above. This was an incredibly hard bill to fill. We did our best.

We just saw a dress in Forever 21 that looked almost exactly like this dress—this one, unbelievably, was not it, and is only in second place. Broken dot tube dress, $24.80. But of course it misses the point, which is about pockets.

We like this one, but it’s just about as much. Tucker pocket dress, $330

We are really having a hard time finding dresses that fit this bill. Bizarrely, this is one of the ones we like most. Puella pocket dress, was $110, now $55

This one isn’t as fun, but it’s a bit closer, we think. Sunner dress, was $233, now $117

This is ridiculously short. So: just our favorite thing! (Especially, maybe, with black pants \ tights for winter.) It’s hard to see but there definitely are pockets. Guy Baxter dress, was $391, now $196

Very springtime, but we love that yellow, and maybe they could be successfully layered-up. Armani Exchange pleated smock dress with pockets, $130

This fits a bit strange but we still love it—we’re buying this when we get paid. At $36, we can take the risk. American Apparel pocket dress, $36

Source: Reader Mail: The Pocket Dress

The Pampered Mama: An Itchy Scalp, but Lovely Lips

The Pampered Mama is probably about ready to kill me right now. She sent me this post ages ago, and it sat in my inbox. Silly girl! Read on for her thoughts on some products from Oscar Blandi and Vincent Longo. My interjections are in [brackets].

So, I am late with my post this week [ha! And I’m incredibly late in posting it, so we’re even]. This is not a surprise. Between having a job, a toddler and a hopeful relationship, not everything will get done when I want it to get done. I also consider it divine payback for my big Sephora shopping excursion, sans baby! I found some of the greatest things, and some of the worst. Let’s start with the worst since I was SUPER excited by the concept!

Oscar Blandi Dry Shampoo. I don’t know, maybe it’s me and I don’t know how to use this product, but it made my scalp itch, my roots feel dried out, and the ends of my hair flyaway, i. e. not the look I was going for. It was so bad, that I got in the shower to wash my hair 10 minutes before I went out to dinner last Saturday! I thought it would be the solution to all of my no-time-to-take-a-shower problems. Alas, that is not the case, and I am on the prowl for a different product to try.

On to happier subjects, I must agree with my best friend and tell you that anyone who has not tried Vincent Longo lipsticks, MUST! I generally use all day lipcolors because I don’t have the time or patience to reapply, but these colors are so worth it! I walked around the store with all of my fingertips in different colors to figure out which ones would look best on my lips. I was looking for a red that would not wash my face out and went with “Americana.”

The prince has just arisen from his nap, so off I go! If my editor/best friend hasn’t nixed me for my tardiness [tardiness is a way of life here, my friend], I will take you back in time to those “ugly duckling” years and show you some of K’s early handiwork…

Source: The Pampered Mama: An Itchy Scalp, but Lovely Lips

The New Contest

So! We’ve received some wonderful things in the mail lately, and because we try not to be greedy little monsters, we’re putting them all together in a big box for winning. This box will include:

1: Two cans of Nutrisoda soda
2: One Madewell t-shirt
3: One bottle of amazing matte gray ManGlaze nail polish
4: And the newest addition: one tin of Embittermints mints, which are so delicious that we received like a half-dozen tins, and might have eaten our way through two if we were not slightly more restrained than we were worried we were. If that makes sense. Anyway: We successfully kept ourselves from gobbling them all up, because they are a much, much more delicious alternative to those horrible sugar Valentine’s Day things that are all like "Kiss Me" or whatever. We prefer these, which say things like "Idiot." Man, Valentine’s Day is so annoying.

Anyhoo: the contest. We ask anyone who would like to win this amazing box to send us an email with the following:

1: Your favorite TV show
2: Your favorite book
3: What you love for an upcoming Bunnyshop Hearts. This can be totally bizarre or unknown or off the wall or whatever.

Winner pulled randomly on Friday. We will say, because we have been forgetting to, that past winner have been notified, except for Ms. Fab, whom we currently owe a Madewell t-shirt and should send us her address at her convenience.

We will of course be using the answers to #3 for future BS Hearts. Collective intelligence! So much better than ours, alone. And of course! We will be asking for reviews on the products. It’s a bit work-intensive for a contest, but we guess that’s how we’re rolling these days.

Embittermints mints, $2.50 per tin—buy them online or at Mxyplyzyk

Source: The New Contest

The Mitchel and Webb Situation

This is one of our favorite things we’ve ever seen, and we’re so happy we just found it on YouTube. If you don’t know these guys—well, actually, the blond in the video, plus his partner, who’s not in this skit—they make the amazingly funny Peep Show, and they’re actually the Mac and PC guys in the U.K. Hurrah!

Source: The Mitchel and Webb Situation

Every Man Jack: A Valentine for Your Guy

I’ve raved about Every Man Jack products a few times before - they’re inexpensive, high quality, the packaging is cool, and they smell great. I had fully intended on passing along my Citrus Scrub and Body Bars to actual men, but I loved them too much and kept them to myself! The Citrus Scrub is now a pre-self-tanning must have for me - it’s especially fab when used with loofah gloves.

Well, if you can bear to part with it, Every Man Jack is offering a 4-piece kit that would make a perfect Valentine’s Day gift for your guy. Packaged in a sleek wood-grained box, it includes:

• Shave Gel Hydrating Formula – Fragrance Free With methyl glucoside to lubricate skin to reduce shave friction, chamomile extract, aloe, Vitamin E, and glycerin

• Face Lotion – Post-Shave – Fragrance Free Light, non-greasy, non-comedogenic, and dries to a matte finish
• Body Wash – Cedarwood Scent Smells amazing, and is free of dyes, sodium laurel sulfate, and parabens
• Body Bars – Cedarwood Scent 100% vegetable based, vitamin-enriched…and you get three of them!

Now get ready for the price. Ready? This kit will set you back all of $16! So while your man is out buying you flowers and chocolate, head to everymanjack.com and put one of these in your cart.

They’re also sold at Target, but I suppose I shouldn’t be telling you that, since Beauty Addict is not a “publication that reaches [Target’s] core guest.” Want to know more about that? Read this:

NY Times: Target Tells a Blogger to Go Away (thanks Carleen)

Source: Every Man Jack: A Valentine for Your Guy

Spots Be Gone [Pretty by Nature]

 

The adult acne I suffer from is quite different from the acne I suffered from as a teenager. I was able to use products with much harsher topical ingredients back when I was a daisy of a girl. Now if I use something that is too strong or has a bunch of baddies in it, my face feels like it’s on fire. It then in turn makes my problem worse because then my irritated skin breaks out. It’s a vicious circle. It’s also not a constant now. My breakouts seem to wax and wane depending upon my stress level. Funnily enough alcohol and Xanax do nothing to help my breakouts. Kidding. Please no one contact me about my alcohol and prescription drug problem. I mean I do have one, just don’t contact me about it.

I told you before about Boscia’s Willow Bark  treatment stick, but I have a new crush. I’ve moved on to Korres Cinnamon and Thyme gel. We were a better fit; no hard feelings Boscia. It’s not me, it’s you. It’s paraben, silicone and mineral oil free. I’m all about the Korres. My problem is that I have an oily, like ridiculously oily t-zone and then seriously dry patches. So usually if it works for my t-zone, I then get the too dry and snake like, skin-shedding around my nose and cheeks. I must have done something really nasty in my past life. Anyway this gel sorta puts everything in balance. It just works and I don’t know how. I’ve been using it in tandem with my BeeCeuticals facial cleanser. I’m impressed. I will hold out and touch bases with you when I get to the week before my umm…woman time. That’s the real test. I’m a little self-conscious about the fact that it’s from the Korres Young Skincare Line but whatever. Better that than the old, leathery, saggy ass skincare line.

Tags: acne, Botanical Beauty, Eco-friendly, Korres

Source: Spots Be Gone [Pretty by Nature]

Salad chic?

Loewe, Spain’s premier luxury handbag company is less known in the US than it’s LVMH (as in Louis Vuitton) owned counterparts, surprisingly, in this era of the next big brand, they have no big flagship here, and are only carried in DFS Galleria (also owned by LVMH) stores in San Francisco, and Hawaii.
But that is soon to change…according to an article in the Wall Street Journal , the line will be carried by Henri Bendel, sort of a hipper, funkier Bergdorfs.
In honor of that, I figured, why not introduce the line? And yes, there were many beautiful bags to choose from, but I simply could not resist this one…

Made from a beautiful shade of pale green python, this bag looks like some sort of chi-chi take out salad that comes with it’s own handle. The resemblance to a head of Boston lettuce is uncanny. It would be a perfect tote to carry a pet rabbit around town, in style!
Or, maybe the designer had just returned from a preview of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, and was inspired by the seaweed.
Whatever the reasoning behind this bag, it is a miss…even the gorgeous skin and color can’t save it.
But please, don’t judge a company by it’s vegetation, take a look at other styles…I’m sure you’ll be wondering where Loewe has been all your life!

Source: Salad chic?