Embracing the Europeans

We were a little irked last week when shopping at Saks in NYC at 4 on a Friday. What we thought would be an off time—before the masses got out of work, a week that wasn’t spring break—was anything but. The store was packed to the hilt—it was hard to find our size in any of the clothes we liked, the shoe sale rack was picked over save for a pair of size 5 totally hid pink Stuart Weitzmans, and the line for the dressing room was a mile and a half long. While waiting in that line, we heard French, Italian and British accents.

It's then that it hit us like a ton of bricks—the Europeans are taking over our city! Our work buddy Rich confirmed this the following Monday. He met a bunch of Italians at a bar over the weekend. And one of them had just bought EIGHT Ralph Lauren sweaters that very day. Well good for f-ing them! When the dollar is back up and breakfast in London won’t cost us the equivalent of those marked down Stuart Weitzmans, we look forward to traveling to Europe again for the sole purpose of buying all their cute clothes and leaving the dregs for them. Ha!

Sadly, that fantasy is probably still a decade away, so we’ve decided to embrace our new found friends, with a little help from our friends at NY Mag. They printed this helpful primer, "Find a French Boyfriend" on how to pick up EuroTrash in various spots around the city. May as well give it a go. Bitter is never beautiful.

Something Old, Something New

Skinsheen is available this month from MAC. It's a spray-on gel that you use as a bronzer for you legs, arms, and chest and comes in 3 different shades: medium dark, dark, and deep dark. We'd use this when we don't have time to self-tan or when we'd like some extra shimmer, which is always sexy when you're going out.

Available this month at MAC stores, on-line, and department stores nationwide for $22.50.


Now for the old. MAC released their Fafi line earlier this year and while we see tons of great products (and quite a few questionable ones), not many remain in our makeup rotation. Read here: we're still using these long after the new-ness has worn off.

First is the Fafi Eyes 1, a combination of four very wearable shadows: Howzat, Hey, Pink Venus and Vanilla. Also, for your eyes, we're using the Paint Pot in Perky. This warm peachy-pink goes on easily as a cream and dries to a powder finish and is the perfect everyday eye color. Use a little for subtle color, or a lot for more impact and it'll be there til nighttime.



Finally, our favorite of the whole Fafi line is the Iridescent Powder in Belightful. This falls somewhere between bronzer and blush with lots of shimmer. It looks great along the top of your cheek bone to give you a highlight and a healthy glow-- it simply lights up your face.

Cheers for Gwen!

Yesterday we told you about a pair of celeb designers who are on our s--- list, now let’s talk about one we love: Gwen Stefani.

We lusted after her convertible clutch last fall, but never did make the jump.

Well—this spring, we were wooed by her ombré Manchester tote bag. We realize it’s a risk buying something ombré as it’s a trend that might die out faster than movies about baby mamas. But we figure we’re on the start of the trend, so we should be able to use the bag for a few seasons at least. And the ombré is part of what we love—It’s dark, so we can wear it in fall and winter, but it’s light too, so we can wear it in spring and summer.

Plus the patent leather is so easy to clean--you could practically hose it down. This means it’s great for rainy days, hot days when we –ahem—perspire, and traveling.

We used this bag on our trip to San Diego last week. It zips so when we stow it under our seat there’s no risk or our lip balm rolling under 12C’s seat, it’s big enough that we can store our lap top in it and it has four inside pockets so we don’t have to search around for said lip balm, our hand cream or our pen for doing crossword puzzles. And—it’s light to begin with, so we don’t have to throw our shoulder out when we’re running to catch the Air Train from JFK.

It’s an attention getter, too. Last week, on the subway a 50-something woman asked if our bag was Prada. When we told her no, it’s from the fab Gwen Stefani’s line, she asked how much it cost. As gossip columnist Cindy Adams would say, only in New York, kids!

Shame on the Olsen Twins

When we were shopping for our upcoming trip to LA, we stumbled upon this dress from Elizabeth and James, the line designed by Mary Kate and Ashley. First off, we gotta admit—we do secretly like the Olsen twins. We loved Mary Kate as the Bible thumping pothead on Weeds and one of our best celeb sightings of all times was seeing the two of them at the Louboutin store in the Meatpacking District.

Back to the dress. We thought this frothy lemonade color dress would be the perfect thing to wear in LA, and you know we do struggle when it comes to dressing on the West coast. The color is sunny and happy, it straddles the line between casual and dressy and would rock with a pair of gladiator sandals. Off to the dressing room we went.

We slid on the strapless silk dress, turned to the mirror and…

WE MIGHT AS WELL HAVE BEEN STARK NAKED!

The dress is completely see through. We’re not talking the sexy kind of almost see through where if you stare you can make out a panty line or slight outline of a nipple, we’re talking FULL ON SEE THROUGH—you could see our panties in their entirety. We wanted to like it so much, we thought maybe we could try to find a full boy short we could wear underneath it. But sanity regained its hold--there was no escaping the fact that the top was just as sheer and you could see our nipples. Ai-ya-yi!

Mary Kate and Ashley—listen up! If you’re going to charge $365 for a slip of a dress, at least make sure you can leave the house in it without getting arrested!

Don't Forget...

To take advantage of our awesome discount at Philosophies stationery now until May 10 (hint: May 10 is Mother's Day.)

To comment on any item to win an adorable pair of Aerosole's shoes!

On Our Radar: Luxury Spa in the Lone Star

JSG Hope went to college in Dallas and while she's only been there a couple of times in the past 10 years, she can't get enough of Austin. Not only is the city packed with culture-- like great food, live music, competitive sports, and groovy people (Whole Foods started here after all); it's also home to our favorite place to pamper - the Lake Austin Spa. We've been there many times because our great friend, Amanda, lives just minutes away. Each time we visit, this is on the top of our must do list.

Lake Austin Spa sits in the beautiful hill country just outside of the city and its buildings were designed to emulate a lake house--luxury at the lake. It's worth noting that Lake Austin is the most beautiful body of water we've seen inside the states. It's crystal clear blue, totally refreshing in HOT Texas weather, and if you're lucky you'll see a men's polo team diving off the cliffs and lounging on the rocks.

The Lake Austin Spa just won the #1 Destination Spa in North America by the readers of Conde Nast Magazine. Rightfully so, they've finished a gorgeous remodel including a new spa house with 25 treatment rooms, two pool areas, and 40 new guest rooms. The Blue Room which serves as the waiting room prior to treatment is gorgeous, comfortable and has a fabulous view of the 19 acre property. There are indoor and outdoor treatment rooms which are casually and tastefully decorated and spacious. Our favorite is on a screened in porch. Chef Terry Conlon provides the culinary experience at Aster Cafe where his philosophy is "nothing is forbidden." He uses healthy, organic ingredients (many from their own healing gardens) to rework favorite dishes like quesadillas, chicken salad, and paninis. There are two pool areas: the Pool Barn is an indoor jr. Olympic size lap pool and the Palm pool sits just outside the main building. They have over 100 treatments from which to choose. Their featured treatment is the Coffee Scrub and Massage, which promises to exfoliate, refresh and improve circulation, all the while reducing the appearance of cellulite- just in time for summer!

Lake Austin Spa even offers special events and discounts for girlfriends getaways. Hope to see y'all there!

Two New From Clinique

Clinique has two new products just in time for spring that will freshen up your face. First is the Shimmering Tones Powder Quad in Golden Bronze. These four colors range from beige/gold to bronze and can be used individually or in combination on your eyes or on your cheeks for a swipe of bronze-y glow. We've used it daily for a couple of weeks and find it very versatile. If you're a fan of Bobbi Brown's Shimmer Bricks (like us!) then you'll enjoy this as well. It cost $28.50

Next up is the Long Last Glosswear. While we have a makeup bag full of glosses, this one stood out. We especially like the wand applicator (hate getting our fingertips messy or having to carry around a separate lip brush), the texture is smooth and moisturizing not sticky, it has SPF 15, and while we can't confirm just how long it lasts (Clinique claims up to 8 hours) it did last longer than our other glosses. We're using Rock Violet which is pinky, brown with a slight violet sheen. It costs $14.00.

Both products are available on Clinique's website and department stores nationwide.

You know how much we love Clinique's self-tanners. While you're on the Clinique website, you can register to win your own set of tanning products tucked in a beach bag. Enter by May 27th.