background artwork: marco mazzoni featured in Hi-Fructose Magazine
I’ve heard about the wonders of Fresh’s Sugar Lip Treatment for years; Must-Have Makeup Basic! Beauty Editor favorite! Celebrity Staple! As an avid magazine reader and beauty product freak, all of those things *should* have seduced me to buy. Sure, I’ve gotten nanoseconds away from point of purchase with a box of Lip Treatment in my hand, but the punishing price tag always won in the end. How many times have I ceremoniously dump it, with the other expensive, homeless glosses, back into the impulse buy bins that surround Sephora’s registers? Dozens? ”There should be no justifiable reason for which a person of modest means should pay that much for lip tint,” I could hear my mother saying in my head. And she would be right–there are concert tickets, parties, life-changing experiences to be had at that price.
But this year, something changed. See, all those last minute grabs from Sephora’s impulse buy bins hadn’t gotten the actual product in my hands–I was only carrying the box it was packaged in. Once I discovered what exactly was inside, the lip treatment categorically shifted from splurge to essential investment within seconds. Yes, the product is as good as they say–it nourishes chapped, cracked and dry lips while livening up the pucker with a hint of color. And, yum, it smells faintly of sugar-spiked lemonade made by go-getter kids in American suburbs. But past the nostalgia and functionality, what sold me on the gloss is the so-sensible-it’s-genius packaging.
First, the stuff isn’t packaged in a pot (which requires clean fingers for dipping–something impossible to maintain when on the go). Instead, it’s housed in a substantial but pretty tube that’s been dipped in washed-out metallic shades. The tip of the tint is round and flat, not angled like a lipstick, which is perfect, because we’re our bombing the lips with the stuff, not precisely applying it like with a rich, matte color. But the pièce de résistanceis its screw-top lid (shown in the pic above). Once that sucker is secure, there is absolutely zero chance that the honey, plum, or rose’ tint will end up on the bottom of my supple Italian leather bag. Suddenly the price tag seemed perfectly practical–I’m not just buying a lip product here, I’m paying for thoughtful design. And in a culture riddled with half-assed production (Horrible Bosses, phones that block signals when you hold them, anal-leakage causing reduced fat potato chips), good design is a pleasure to pay for.
Karl Lagerfeld previewed his collection for Macy’s Impulse Wednesday, showing lots of black, white and tops emblazoned with the designer’s own image (would we expect anything else?). The capsule collection will go on sale Aug. 31 at 235 select Macy’s stores.
As for us, we’ll be passing on the tanks that depict Lagerfeld’s own image (even when they hit the sale rack), because like Mr. T says, “Express yourself! Do Bill Blass, Calvin Klein or Gloria Vanderbilt wear clothes with your name on it? NO! Of course Not! …Wear your own name.”
Lauren Conrad will debut her Paper Crown line at Fred Segal, Nordies and other boutiques across the country on Saturday. Prices range from $40 to $460 and are aimed at the girl who, “a collection for those who like to play dress up in a grown up world,” according to WWD.com.
The looks certainly seem like a big old upgrade from her colab with Kohls. What do you think? Are you amped to cop a piece of Lauren’s style.
A new shopping site launches today that will make it easier to bite celebrity looks. Ave23.com allows users to drag and drop pictures of people in a covetable outfit. The site then finds similar pieces that comprise the look and shows the user where to get them for less. No digging around to find an obscure brand of jeans a star was wearing at last night’s premiere or fruitless Google searches to find out who makes fuchsia fringe earrings for less than $400.
So if Hailee Steinfeld steps out in a Miu Miu ensemble at a Hollywood event, users could drop the image at Ave23.com and let it find similar and cheaper alternatives to her dress, shoes and bangles for the shopper.
What do you think of the site? Fashion lifesaver or style-saving cheat sheet for peeps who can’t dress?
Hard living and Racy Headlines? I’ll remember Ms. Winehouse for her one-of-a-kind sense of style. Throwback sailor tattoos and ballet slippers. A hardnosed librarian’s beehive from the 60s teased to preposterous proportions. Multi-colored bra straps proudly peeking though wispy shirts. Amy’s style was a breath of fresh air when she made her worldwide debut with her sophomore album, and it’s what I’ll remember her for today.
In the next few days, I’ll be mining media archives to present an Amy Winehouse Look Book to remind us of her pretty/tough style. Stay Tuned.
With 90 and above degree weather in 40 states this past week, we girls of summer know that heavy, full-faced makeup will, in a matter of minutes, melt. right. off. So while the glossy fashion magazines gear us up for the rich hues of fall, I’m still stuck on my minimal, but beachy summer look, shown here. Here’s how to get the look:
Next I spritz any zits with Eminence Organics Stone Crop Hydrating Mist. (It’s laced with salicylic acid, which helps heal blemishes.) Finally, I throw on some moisturizer and let it seep in while I reach for a few key makeup products:
Designer-turned-artist Helmut Lang is sending a final kiss-off to the fashion world by shredding the last 6,000 dresses in his personal inventory. While this sounds totally sacrilege to us, all is not lost: the artist will use the fabrics–along with fur, feathers, leather and more materials collected during his 25-year tenure as a designer–to make stalactite-influenced** ground-to-ceiling sculptures for a new gallery exhibition in East Hampton NY. The show, called “Make it Hard,” will run at The Fireplace Project from July 22 to August 8; it’s aimed to serve as his final sayonara to fashion and hello, again to art.
**stalactites are the drippy-looking columns that hang from the ceilings of limestone caves. They look like this:
Two of my favorite things Chanel’s beauty line directed by Peter Philips meets ROBOTS (another longtime obsession). In short I heart this video and me thinks you will too! Enjoy!!
