March 2007 Archives

Post by Michelle
Courvoisier has long been a symbol of luxury and comfort. The cognac company has a wide range of products to their name and now they’re adding fragrance to their empire. On Friday, WWD online reported that Courvoisier is launching their own men’s cologne line. Courvoisier L'edition Imperiale is rumored to be retailing for more than $100 a piece and will be sold at only certain “high end” retailers beginning this spring. I did some internet sleuthing and while I found plenty of press on the fragrance, I can’t seem to find anyone who has actually smelled it! (Only a brand rep calling it "woody, orential and reminiscent of the barrels used to age the cognac") So I put it to you guys. Any thoughts about what this scent might/actually smell like? We’re assuming (and desperately hoping) that it doesn’t smell like the cognac or what you might smell like after a night drinking it, but we’re dying to know the scoop!

pictures courtesy of thelicensingcompany.com

Post by Michelle
I’ll tell you a secret. Sometimes I get bored with my hair. I both simultaneously love and hate it. It’s long and back and while I’m unnaturally proud of how shiny it is, I hate how stick straight it is. (No really, I’m not kidding! Once, in a grossly misguided decision I got a perm. My hair fell straight within 24 hours.) Anyway, as a consequence I’m always looking for cute wraps and barrettes and pins to put in my hair. Yesterday, I fell in love with this headwrap from Stacey Lapidus. It’s a wonderful sparkly silver with purple trim that will go with lots of clothes I have! I especially love the cute Pave crystal sunburst on it. It fancies up your look without looking to ornate. I have a black tie wedding in May that I’m planning on wearing it to, but I think it’s versatile enough that I think I can wear it lots of places. Plus there's elastic in the headband so it'll actually stay on my head instead of inching backwards like most wraps do. Check out Stacey’s website for a bunch of really cute headbands and other accessories. $100 at www.staceylapidus.com

My husband and his friends call me LaRue as I always have a giant hat, a wrap, and SPF60 smeared all over my face and body on the beach. I love a warm glow to my skin but I am deathly afraid of the sun so I have not tanned since I was a teenager. I've been faking it with bronzers and self tanners for years and have tried just about everything out there. I even tried the tanning spray booths which gave me a natural and even tan within hours (I joined my husband for lunch after a session and literally turned brown right in front of him which totally freaked him out!) but standing in that dark booth is really scary so I went back to self applied lotions. Unfortunately I am impatient and always leave the house before it'd dry so I'd get sock lines and/or smears on my clothes. I finally discovered L'Oreal's Sublime Glow last summer and it is by far the easiest self tanner to apply and the least messy. It's more of a body lotion than a self tanner and the color is a lot more natural. It also gives you an instant subtle shimmer, which I like on my legs and shoulders in the summer. At most drugstores or Target for $9.99
FORGOT TO MENTION THERE ARE 3 SHADES, LIGHT MEDIUM AND DARK. I like the medium but choose accordingly to your skintone. As for the smell, you guys are going to think I'm weird but I like it! It's not as smelly as most self tanners, it's a soft scent that I barely notice. I use a pure gardenia oil with Creed's Millesime perfume so you don't really smell it.

It doesn't matter how much Botox you shoot into your face or how much of it you cut off, a saggy neck is always a dead giveaway to your real age. I often see women with smooth and taut faces but wrinkly chicken necks, I mean what's the point? Don't waste money on your face if you aren't going to take care of your neck! I always ask my esthetician to treat my neck when I get microdermabrasion facials and when putting on my multiple bottles of creams and potions; I always apply them to my neck and chest. I've tried different neck creams in the past but have not found one I really love so I've been using my Diamond extreme cream. I know the skin on the neck is more delicate and vulnerable and needs special care so I've been on the hunt for a neck cream. I was so excited when I found out about the new Natura Bisse Tensolift Neck Cream being launched this week! I can not wait to get a bottle! If it's anything like the other items in the Tensolift line, it will tighten and fight wrinkles. I am on my way to North Park as you read this, stop and say hello to me if you manage to get down there yourself :) It will be available at Neiman Marcus and Barneys New York today for $185.

Post by Michelle
I love taking baths. I love having wrinkly fingers and toes. I mostly love closing the bathroom door and soaking away my bad days. When I’ve had a particularly bad day I will treat myself to a Fairy Jasmine bath bomb. It’s a fizzy bomb that is filled with iridescent sparkles that float in the water and stick to your skin when your bath time is over. I find a lot of Lush’s products to be too smelly. I can hardly enter the store without getting a headache, but Fairy Jasmine’s got an amazing smell that relaxes you without being to overwhelming. I use it right before bed to relax myself (and it’s kind of fun to go to bed all sparkly!) But be warned, the sparkles to stick so don’t use it if you’re going anywhere that might not be sparkle appropriate. Your skin will be super smooth and soft after the bath though! The only disappointing thing about this bath bomb is that it will be gone soon! I just went to Lush’s website and apparently it’s a limited time only. Boo! Try one now. You won’t regret it, I promise!! $5.75 each. www.lush.com

I'm finally back! A week without DSL was like a week in a cave! Thanks Michelle and Kelly for picking up the slack around here. Without internet access, I finally had time to flip through stacks of neglected fashion magazines and I noticed that many young actresses and models already have the botox frozen look. I started thinking, when is it too early to have work done? Is it ever too early? And is it really possible to stop time with supposed miracle fillers? Which led me to another question, which is more effective? The scalpel or the needle? I asked a cosmetic dermatologist and she told me a needle and a laser is all she needs to keep you looking like a college co-ed. Then I asked a plastic surgeon, who insisted no amount of injectables will lift sagging jowls and skin like a little nip and tuck.

This is a touchy subject and it's been hard to get women to talk to me about it for this entry. I know a 46 year old woman who is constantly getting injected with fillers, she always has random small bruises on her face but makes up stories about falling off the stepladder or being hit with toys by her nephew. On the other hand, I have a friend who is very open about her "improvements" and got her facelift before she turned 50! She shows the scars on each side of her face proudly and offers to give gory details with photos. It's all kind of scary to me but who knows what I'll do in 20 years! Kelly and I always talk about aging gracefully but is there really such a thing? What do you think? The scalpel, the needle, or the hell with it I'm just gonna age with dignity?

Lancôme has created five fabulous shades of lipsticks named Red Stiletto, Designer Bloom, Top Model, Natural Beauty and Curtain Call in support of the Fash­ionistas, a Dallas based nonprofit agency, to help raise funds for the city's fledgling fashion museum called Fashion on Main. Lan­côme will donate a percentage of March sales of The Fashionistas Color Design Lip Collection at the L'Oréal-owned brand's Dallas store to the charity. The hues were chosen from Color Design's palette of 36 shades in four finishes by Fashionistas founder Heidi Dillon and other members of the agency. You must stop by the Lancome boutique in North Park this week to check out the collection. Purchase every color for yourself or give away as gifts, either way, you are helping to support the Texas Fashion Museum!

Crushed wild strawberries and pure brown sugar make this scrub smell so yummy I want to eat it everytime I use it! I love Fresh, everything about this line of products is fabulous, from lipglosses to scrubs, it has something for everyone. I keep the Sugar Face Polish in the shower because it saves time for my gazillions of other beauty routines plus it's not as messy to wash it off in the shower. I apply a thick layer at the beginning of my shower and leave it on until I am done. Before I rinse it off, I massage it in a quick circular motion to really get the max benefits out of it, my skin gets a soft and velvety texture to it from the strawberries and it smells so good! I only use it a couple of times a week because I don't want to over exfoliate my face. $55 at Sephora but I get mine at Sharla's, the most amazing beauty boutique in the world. Call 214-544-2200 to order.

Post by Michelle
I’m a total klutz! I fall down all the time. Sometimes I’ll just be standing somewhere and I’ll fall over for no reason at all. I swear, it’s the weirdest thing. As a consequence I’m always nursing a sprained or bruised or something. So when I was browsing through the web the other day and came upon these retro ice bags, I knew I had to have them! They come in three different prints; pink checked, one that says “Party’s Over,” and one that names a bunch of different cocktails. I prefer the pink checked one, but there is a certain humor to be found in bringing a “Party’s Over” ice bag to your roommate who’s nursing a mysteriously bruised shin after a night of drinking. From Gal Pal, they’re $13 each and can be found at shopintuition.com

Post by Michelle
Sigh…. I love pink. I know, I’m twenty-six and I shouldn’t have such a strong attachment to the favorite color of my youth, but I do. I’m also a sucker for cute packaging. So, when I was doing my routine browse through of Sephora and noticed this Hopelessly Devoted to Pink set from Benefit, I knew I had to have it even before I knew what was in it! Turns out it’s a pretty good deal. It’s three lip creams and three eye shadows in shades of pink that all compliment each other nicely. The makeup itself is fairly good quality although I do find that the eyeshadow doesn’t stay put as well as I would like it to! (Tip: Don’t wear a black shirt while putting on this eyeshadow!) The colors are really beautiful shades of pink and will look great once it gets warm enough outside for me to get a tan! $28 at Sephora. Benefit Cosmetics Hopelessly Devoted to Pink!