Tip your waitress

I've never in my life dyed my hair ... but after seeing this photo of Jessica Biel in Marie-Claire, I foresee a date at the beach next summer with a spy novel and a fresh-squeezed lemon.

Adventures in odors, part 4

Today I am wearing Marc Jacobs Daisy. Fresh and lovely right out of the bottle, it's rapidly morphing into "perfume" on my wrist. I don't think this one is a keeper. (Truthfully, I've fallen so in love with Jardin Sur le Nil that I don't actually want to find another one, but I'm following through as an intellectual exercise if nothing else.) Last week I wore a bergamot-scented one from Aedes (I can't recall the name or brand), which was nice but didn't leave much of an impression on me, perhaps because I applied it too lightly, so I'll give it another shot at some point.

You may notice that the blog looks a little different. We're still tweaking. But feel free to leave your comments or suggestions for aspects you'd like to see! Coming soon: post categories and lists of blogs we love and shops we suggest. Note that none of these are paid endorsements and we have not received courtesy items from anyone, just to be clear.

Adventures in odors, part 3

Today I am wearing Hermes Jardin Sur le Nil, which I like very much--one for the frontrunner pile. Here is an article about how it was created.

Last night M. and I went to Aedes in the West Village. At the door, they asked us if we'd rsvp'd. Startled, we said, "Um, no..." They said, "Well, we're having an event. But come on in!"

A Parisian perfumer (with whose ouevre M. was quite familiar) was in the store signing bottles. "Prosecco?" proffered a clerk, clad like the others all in black. "Why yes, thank you," we said. Taking glass tumblers from a tray, we tried perfumes for about twenty minutes. At the counter, another haughty clerk sniffed our square black smelling papers, seeming to identify the perfumes' identity by his nose alone, and corked tiny sample vials. I came away with two samples and a third spritzed on my wrist, though it was hard to narrow down. (I'm learning that I like tuberose--the dominant smell in the Michael Kors I mentioned earlier--as well as citrus, which is what Jardin Sur le Nil makes me think of.) All the ones I smelled in that store were exquisite. I really, really don't even want to know what they cost!

The store was absolutely beautiful, a tiny dark glowing jewel box of antiques and crystal.

On a table near the checkout counter was a display of Laduree candles, another thing I don't want to know the cost of but that are highly covetable, while we're being all lavish and expensive on this blog here. Don't worry, thrift store posts to resume shortly.

Flower power

As long as it's not boring for you guys, I'll keep you "posted" (ha!) on the Great Perfume Hunt of 2010. Don't worry, regular posts will intersperse these whiffy ones.

So, last night I stopped by another Sephora (and put on more Stila Cloud plus Stila's purple pencil eyeliner and some Nars lipgloss. What!?! They like for you to test things) and smelled a few more perfumes. I took a sample of Guerlain Pamplelune which I'm wearing on my wrist today. I'm open to it, but I don't think it's the one. When you first smell it, it has a really tangy grapefruit odor that is at first refreshing and rapidly becomes "bitter." But then you get a whiff of honeysuckle and you think, wow, this is a really complex scent.

On my person, though, it's got this tinge of something I can only describe as "powdery" that's kind of overpowering the grapefruit, and has totally obliterated the honeysuckle. It's not an unpleasant smell, but it just doesn't feel me.

I also took a sample of Marc Jacobs Daisy which I might wear tomorrow; it's a really light, flowery, enchanting scent, though it smells very "young," and I don't think I'm saying that just because of the name and the packaging. M. says it's not "distinctive" enough and she might be right ... it's kind of like a very high end Bath & Body Works spray. But, I mean, it smells delicious. We'll see.

I also sniffed Chanel Coco Mademoiselle and I think I maligned it yesterday--I might have been thinking of regular Coco. Coco M. is quite nice; again, not sure it's me, but the inside of my purse smells like it after I stashed the strip in there and it's not at all bad.

Scentual

There are some things that are perhaps unnecessary in life but that it's nice to pass down, like fine china for example: Chris and I didn't register for any but my grandmother is giving us hers (when we have somewhere to put it), and I love that. I think perfume is another one of those things. I've never had a perfume of my own (not counting drug store body spritzers or the Gap scent that I hang onto because I love its honeysuckle smell, if not the chemical effect that arises around hour two). On my wedding day, my mom asked me if I had a perfume and when I said no, she said, "Here, dab on some White Shoulders, which is your grandmother's scent." So that was a nice memento to wear that day, and the smell of White Shoulders does always make me think instantly of my Nanny (and now, perhaps, my wedding day). Likewise, whenever I see a bottle of Chloe I flash back to the bottles my mom had on her dresser when I was growing up.

My friend M., though she would undoubtedly demur at the label, is a bit of a perfume expert (or at least, connoisseur), and she's been taking me out "taste testing" (scent sniffing?).

Here are the perfumes I've liked enough to obtain sample vials:

Hermes Jardin sur le nil
Stella McCartney Stella Nude
Michael Kors (I love this one and its heavy yet refreshing "creamy floral" smell, but M. advises that it's not one you want to wear every day)

Still open to:

Stella McCartney Stella
Hermes Voyage (this one has a spicy cardamom scent that it just delicious, there's no other way to describe it, but at the same time it kind of makes me feel like it's a Christmas perfume)

Negative, ghost rider:

The other two Hermes Jardins
D&G
Chanel Allure, Chance, and Coco Mademoiselle
Bulgari Jasmin Noir
Prada
Prada Infusion d'Iris
Burberry Brit (this was actually quite nice but just not me)
Lolita Lempicka (liked but not for me--too vanilla, and I mean that literally and not in the "bland" sense of the word)

M. says that now we've exhausted Sephora as they tend to stock the "mainstream, heavy florals" (I'm paraphrasing her because whether she likes the term or not, she's my expert). Next she's taking me to Bergdorf's to smell the Chanel exclusifs (as I love the idea of having a Chanel perfume, but the ones I've smelled to date, including No. 5, though I'd like to give it another chance, hurt my nose), to Saks, and to a tiny perfumerie in the West Village.

Listen, this may all sound ridiculous, but sometimes you have to have fun with the fact that you live in New York City.

Photo via Anthropologie.

Shimmering eyelids

I went to Sephora on my lunch break to sniff perfumes (more on that later) and on my way out paused by the Stila display at the front door. I wound up trying on (and falling love with) two exquisitely perfect eyeshadows, Kitten and Cloud. And I also watched the sales girl demonstrate Stila's liquid liner, which pretty much seems ideal and not at all horrible the way both Revlon's and L'Oreal's liquid liners have become. (They used to have nice marker-esque liquid liners, but without changing the name or the price they have subtly ruined them.) So now to set up a Sephora piggy bank on my desk!

I only need to skip ... twenty-four ... cups of coffee to be able to afford them both.

On a more woeful note, I foolishly spritzed Chanel Chance onto my wrist and it won't scrub off and I'm getting a headache.

I so long to fall in love with a Chanel perfume but I don't think it's going to happen.



thanks to t.

walking in to seminar yesterday i see my collegue t. and am literally immediately ecstatic about her new look. it was so fresh and pretty and bold that i had to try it the next day. what was it, you birds ask? it was a mixture of fushia and green makeup that rocked my world.

how tos:

the trick is to do a deep fuschia lip that is MATTE-no shine here-the color speaks for itself without blinding shine or shimmer. then use a blush that is a paler version of the lip but that still pops. don't be shy about putting it on and do it only on the apples of cheeks-this is a very "doll" looking face but it is just fantastic on. last add a swipe of green shadow right near the lash line. yes, green. i know what you are thinking bc i thought that too but i loved it on t. and i tried it on myself (who shys away from green shadow like a mo-fo) and it is awesome. keep the rest of your look simple- a swipe of defining mascara and a muted color palettte on your outfit and this looks fantastic. i felt charming all day long even though it was raining and my hair had frizzed to twice its size. i credit it all to the dynamic insight of t.

my recs:



Covergirl Lipstain in Scarlet Pucker




Ei Solutions Eyshadow in Olive Green



Lancome Color Fever Lipstick in Daring Rose with...




L"Oreal Paris Hip Duos in Gunmetal




Nars Velvet Lip Pencil in Damned with...




Sephora's Picnic in the Park Eyeshadow

 All makeup $7-$28 found on drugstore.com or sephora.com

chocolate lilac...it's almost like chocolate rain

as fall inches its way into manhattan i cannot help but feel heady...intellectual but beautiful and for some reason the colors that are doing that for me lately are chocolatey suede and a lilac grey. it doesn't really matter where they are on my person: lilac chiffon blouse and brown suede jacket, lilac tweed flats and chocolate cashmere sweater-it all works for me. however, the easiest and quickest way for me to incorporate it is with nail polish. it gives a flash of those colors unexpectedly and the lilac grey on the nails is particularly nice as a nudey neutral that is significantly less boring than tan. paint away, birds!

PradaMen's Cashmere Sweater in Chocolate
$442, bluefly.com

LC by Lauren Conrad Chiffon Blouse
$29, kohls.com

Lilac Tweed Embellished Flats
$128, bananarepublic.com

Splash of Grenadine
$8, essie.com

Little Brown Dress
$8, essie.com

Velvet Voyeur
$8, essie.com

Mink Muffs
$8, essie.com

parting ways...in the middle

so. in the midst of my summer meltdown, right around this time every year actually, 

i start to fantasize about fall. 

that is right, birds...what am i thinking about in july? not christmas...

AUTUMN...

lovely, breezy, sweater vested, trench-coated autumn. 

but, alas, i step outside and feel the wet, thick air all around me and know that i am not there yet. and since i don't want to start my annual autumn beauty fest just yet bc the sun is still so blazing hot that it will turn any lovely chocolate color i put into my hair to a rusty orange and because any makeup that i buy will be tossed in the garbage on the sweat-covered hanky, i have decided to use this month to play with my part in a way that me and my round face never-before dared: the middle part updo. and i must say...it doesn't look half bad, as long as don't do the tight part a la nicole richie-though kudos for you if you can bc it is quite adorable in a swiss miss kind of way.