Archive for August, 2010

Although Glamour’s September issue has declared leopard print back for Fall (at least on J.Lo), as far as I’m concerned, it should never leave! I am obsessed with the sold-out peep-toe Michael Kors leopard-print canvas platform pumps I recently scored at Bloomingdales for under $100 (after lusting over these oh-so-perfect-yet-out-of-reach Manolo Leopard Pony d’Orsays of course), and now I have my eye on Knitwit‘s lightweight, “tofu-cashmere,” animal-print wares: feather-print scarves, tiger- and zebra-print sweaters, and cheetah-print hoodies!

Having tried out one of their cardigans (you may remember it from our March Lust List, I can attest that each 85-percent soybean and 15-percent “cashmere” piece is very well-made, decadently soft and super cozy without being obscenely heavy. Plus they wear well; I haven’t put a run in my scarf (the feather-print one above) yet, and I usually end up doing so on day one. It’s a good thing, too, because Knitwit is a pricey line for casual wear, so definitely look at any piece you buy as an investment purchase. And lucky for both of us, you can take advantage of sales like the current free shipping and $25 off promotions at shopknitwit.com (enter TOFU at checkout). Happy feeding!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Zenni Optical. All opinions are 100% mine.

Or..the curious case of the $30 glasses.

I’ll be honest… the first few times I logged onto Zenni Optical’s website, I was both overwhelmed and skeptical.  The site is filled with pages and pages of frames of all different styles, sizes and colors.  I didn’t even know where to start! Not to mention, after having spent years forking over the big bucks for designer frames, I wasn’t sure what to expect from designs that came with the price tag of $8. (more…)

Sometimes when I’m doing my eye makeup and feeling especially lazy, I just want someone to pick out the perfect shades that go together and arrange them on top of my dressing area so I won’t have to think about it.  But since the odds of a makeup fairy godmother suddenly showing up in my bathroom are slim to none, I think the next best thing are the eyeshadow palettes from DuWop.

Appropriately named things like “Blue Eyes” and “Violet Eyes” so you know exactly what shades you’re getting in the palette, each one contains four different shadows plus a cream liner, so you can play around with different looks and get everything from daytime casual to nighttime sultry.  (The Blue Eyes palette has shades in Soft Periwinkle, Sky Blue, Navy Satin, and Silver, plus a navy cream liner).  I love when palettes can do double duty like that – you get so much more bang for your buck.  The shadows are all nicely pigmented and blend easily and I didn’t find creasing to be a huge problem.  (Although since they’re powder shadows, don’t expect them to wear all day – you’ll definitely want to reapply before going out at night).

There are seven different palettes available – I’m totally coveting the Gray Eyes one now – so you can pretty much get an entire shadow wardrobe out of these.  And they’re great for travel because the packaging is thin and compact.  If I was heading out on a European adventure this week (if only!) I’d definitely bring along my Blue and Violet Eyes palettes and not worry about putting in other colored shadows.  And for an over-packer like me, I think that says it all!

Contrary to the character she plays on TV, Glee’s Lea Michele has been anything but a style dork on the red carpet this season.  In non-Rachel-Barry form, this TV-star ingenue has become one of my favorites to watch out for on the red carpet for her sophisticated, modern, and risk-taking style. She hasn’t been afraid to mix it up and play with her look, by choosing bold colors, like the bright saffron-yellow Zac Posen she wore to this year’s Tony Awards, or new designers, like the Erdem she wore to the 2010 Fox Up Front Party.  Bold lip colors, blunt Zoey Deschanel-esque bangs, dramatic updos: these are just a few of the things she’s used to complete her looks.  You may disagree with some of her sartorial choices, but at least you know she’s always trying and cares about fashion!

Check out some of my favorite looks from this year, beginning with this year’s Teen Choice Awards:

1.  Teen Choice Awards - I always expect to see a lot of monochrome bandage-style Herve Leger dresses at an event like this, which is why I was excited to see Lea Michele stand out from the crowd in this glittery, jade-colored, leaf-patterned Naeem Khan dress.  Still body-conscious and figure flattering, the peek-a-boo nude color beautifully flatters her sun-kissed skin.  I love a fun, colorful print on the red carpet, and the sequin embellishment up the dress’s sophistication factor, which she off-sets with casually bouncy, glossy brunette waves. (more…)

I’m not one to use a whole lot of hair products, but if I want my hair to be wavy and fuller, it’s kind of a necessity.  My new find is Prive’s Concept Vert Volumizing Froth.  It’s a really interesting product because it’s a non-aerosol mousse (something I didn’t even know was possible!)  By making it a non-aerosol, Prive has been able to drastically reduce the size of its bottle.  I’d say it’s about one quarter of the size of most cans of mousse that I’ve seen, which is great not only for the environment, but also for your closet space and for packing it in your luggage.

To use, all you have to do is apply a small amount to your palms and then rub them together quickly, giving the product about 5-10 seconds to froth up.  The process is kind of fun because it all of a sudden just sort of appears and foams up on your hands.  It’s like magic mousse!  Every single morning that I’ve done it it’s made me giggle, which I admit might mean that I’m easily amused, but still.  Who doesn’t want their morning routine to have a little fun in it?  Once the froth has produced itself, you just apply it like you would a regular mousse on damp hair and style however you’d like.  It adds some volume and body to my hair without making it crispy or sticking pieces together.  (I think I’ve mentioned here before how much that annoys me).  It’s also very environmentally friendly – the bottle is designed to be recycled and the product is never tested on animals.  All good things!  If my junior high self knew that one day I would be using mousse in the mornings again, she would be really laughing at me…

Full disclosure: when I was invited to a Juicy Couture event a few weeks ago, I decided to go – not because I was a Juicy fan- but because I was dying to meet Erin Fetherston- the California native whose clothes I fell in love with at her first Fashion Week show a few years ago. Erin is the newest designer on a Juicy collaboration and hosted a night of dinner and shopping for 15 online editors to drum up buzz for her new line, debuting this holiday.

Prior to the event, the last time I had entered the World of Juicy was sometime circa 2004, where I bought my one and only zip up hoodie.  As I matured in my sartorial tastes, I also began seeing younger and younger clientele in velour track suits and thought that my days of Juicy were over. (more…)

Every summer I inevitably find myself spending some weekends “out east” (in Manhattan vernacular) or heading to the Hamptons, an idyllic consortium of towns located on the eastern tip of Long Island and a popular hangout for young professionals to socialites. Some people go for the “scene” bar-hopping, party-going, bash-throwing, while others go simply go to get away.  Earlier this summer, I spent a long weekend out in Southampton for the latter reason, a little trip to rejuvenate me after months and months in the city.

While I’ve spent multiple summers before in Southampton, it’s always been at a friend’s house or a summer share, which isn’t exactly conducive to relaxing. So this time, I checked into the Southampton Inn, a casual chic inn located just around the corner from downtown Southampton, and a free shuttle away from Cooper’s Beach. Nestled on five acres of manicured lawns, the Inn houses 90 simple but spacious and charming rooms, a new pool and OSO, the property’s first restaurant. The country style décor exudes laid back Hamptons charm and the friendly staff helps you feel at home right away. What I love about this place is that the inn is completely unassuming and unpretentious, a welcome relief amongst the typical Hamptons scene. That’s not to say, however, that the inn doesn’t provide top of the line amenities.  Each room is equipped with Gilchrist & Soames toiletries and super comfortable Tempur Pedic® mattresses. In fact, the Inn’s balance of privacy and luxury makes it the lodging of choice for a number of celebrity clients every summer and the stylish grounds made it the location for the filming of upcoming Kate Hudson movie, Something Borrowed. (more…)

Lobster, fresh lemon juice, and the taste of clarified butter: foods for me that conjure up summertime memories of when I was 7 or 8, and our family used to make yearly car-ride pilgrimages to Arcadia, Maine, for a taste of the outdoors that suburban New Jersey couldn’t provide.  Rather then playing the “Am I There Yet” game with my brother, I spent the 8-10 hour drive to Maine sleeping.  But I always knew when we were getting close to our destination when my dad pulled into the nearest, decent open-air, roadside seafood joint advertising LOBSTERS in capital letters.

Our whole family would sit down to a fresh lunch (or dinner) of a few, simply steamed lobsters with sides of lemon and melted butter, as we dug into their nooks and crannies, seeking out the fresh, sweet meat.  My dad was always the best and fastest at digging, always offering us the choicest, largest morsels, something he still does today whenever we eat shellfish.  I was always amazed when he could crack a lobster claw, and remove the entire thing intact, like extracting a puzzle piece.

Coming to Mary’s Fish Camp, made me feel like I wasn’t on Charles Street anymore, but exiting onto the highway off a family trip from Maine into one of those roadside seafood joints.  Perched on the corner, Mary’s Fish Camp is a small open-window corner restaurant with walls lined with faded old-time nautical ads  and ’70s rock playing overhead  (when I was there, it seemed like the entire Virgin Suicides Soundtrack was on rotation).   One of their famed Lobster Rolls can be seen on practically every one of their ten tables and along the smooth metal counter. (more…)

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