When it works, you've got to *feel the burn*.? According to AOL readers, Lip Injection Extreme by Too Faced ($28 at Sephora.com) really works, better than any other they tested for the network. The only issue was a long-lasting slight burn. Still, I've found this more of a success than those that only showed results for 30 minutes. (What good is that, without constant “freshening up”?)
This makes me think ... it's too bad a girl can't just do exercies to plump up lip muscles, instead, for permanent results!
My friend Janel did some shopping this morning while I was pontificating and showed up with some great pieces from the Gap European Collection, currently on sale at select Gap stores (including the one in Times Square) and online. I think my favorite piece is the tie-belt top in navy (d'oh! I mean "celestial blue," which I snapped a pic of in the closet here at the Affinia Manhattan. It's nice that a piece of clothing that appears to look good on a model and in magazines actually does look good in real life.
I scored free tickets to this evening's baseball game and that got me thinking. It's almost summer. I mean we're more than halfway through April, then there's the little matter of May and boom it's June. So, here's something “Oh so summery” for your Frilly Friday.
At first glance, I thought these No Romeo Summer Romance sets were swimwear, but on only slightly closer inspection, it was clear that these fun patterns were meant to brighten your day from beneath your clothes. After all, you can't wear your bikini to work (unless you're a life guard or supermodel), so why not carry a brightly colored reminder of last weekend's fun at the beach through your days at the office.
The Summer Romance sets are available in a floral pattern or a striped pattern. The floral push up bra is padded with removable foam cookies and the plunge cut cups are trimmed with a delicate lace. The striped plunge t-shirt bra is also lightly padded, but the padding is not removable. It's made of cotton rich jersey and tripped with polka-dot piping. Both the striped and floral panties are full coverage briefs with a low rise.
Have fun!
I’ve been hesitant to say this.
After more than two and half years of posting here, I’m opting to go dark for a couple of months. The constant immersion has made me weary of the subject matter, and I fear that my waning enthusiasm is showing in my writing (and is clearly apparent in my lack thereof). So, I’m going to use this time off to read books, write about something other than magazines, and get some fresh air—not to mention a fresh perspective.
The blog and all archives will remain up. If you’d like to be automatically notified when there is new content here, you can sign up to receive posts by email under “Subscribe” in the far right-hand column. (I promise I won’t sell your email address or sign you up for Cosmo’s weekly newsletters.)
And while you’re still here reading, I want to say the most important thing of all:
Thank you.
Above: satin top from Charlotte Russe, pleated cropped pants from H&M, and handbag from Aldo Accessories
Vest and baggy paper bag waist pants from H&M
Floral chiffon top and lace skirt with petticoat from F21. (Apple belt from alloy.com.)
Strapless crochet dress with bubble hem from Charlotte Russe. (I won't wear these gold boots next time I wear the dress, as they visually shorten my legs.) I think it will be fun to layer tights or a striped top under the dress for cooler nights.
Prairie-style floral dress from Nordstrom. The apron silhouette is flattering but somehow reminds me of Little House On The Prairie.
Jewelry Career Resources - 08 August 2006
Jewelry Designer for Princesses - 08 March 2007
Designer Jewelry by Rhonda Reagan - 16 January 2008
Donna D'Aquino Jewelry Designer - 25 February 2008
Matthew Eager's show presented clean lines with no accessories, to make a feature of the minimalistic approach that Eager had in mind. Super-wide linen trousers looked quite elegant on the tall models. High-waisted ra-ra skirts, and dresses in knee lengths came in silver- embellished thick fabric. The boxy coats and bolero jackets were striking, but felt quite demure rather than young and edgy. Colours were in sections white, silver and grey, and with splashes of deep turquoise, and acid green. With the many sleek dresses, this collection presented the most sophisticated range throughout the week. Read also Rebekah Van Druten's, (ABC), interview with Matthew Eager before the show.Manolo says, here is the best of the previous week from the Manolosphere.
?Se imaginan a Christian Louboutin tocando la guitarra y desgarrándose en un escenario como Ozzy Osbourne o Iggy Pop?
At these prices, Mr. Henry doesn’t feel that to expect one decent meal is asking too much. It’s an amusement park, after all. When you are hungry, you are rarely amused.
A una amante del calzado, denle uds una pasarela para escudriñar, repasar, mirar, admirar….y encontrará curiosidades varias, como las que he ido mostrando desde que finalizaron las Pasarelas para el Otoño Invierno 2008/09.
Who’s Milking the Frog?
I was filled with loathing at the idea of someone else buying my skirt before I had the chance to strap on William Shatner (there’s a sentence I never expected to get paid for. WS is, of course, the name of my corset) and see if the thing would zip up once I moved my innards around.
Guess what they got Hugh Hefner for his 82nd birthday?
Ultimately the best thing to do is stand up tall and remember that no one cares that you have love handles as much as you do!
There are many, many soccer moms around here, and I know exactly what they are like.
Welcome to Cthulhu-ville, where the overlords are unspeakable, the architecture is non-Euclidean and the natives are eldritch.
I was pretending to work on various projects on the day in question when I heard the unmistakable sound of a largish truck backing into my driveway.
These otherwise normal Hugo Boss dress shoes should make quite the aural statement.
Tal vez sean los genes y el inevitable factor de ser hija de una gran diva e ícono de la moda, Jane Birkin.
All Playtex bras have been on sale. What, have you been sleeping all week?
Don't worry, the sale goes on through April 6, 2008.
All Playtex bras are $13.99.
Their cute and youthful TGIF line for in between sizes and their high-and-dry 18 hour line for larger sizes - and every collection in between.
Not sure which style is best for you? Just look up at the Search Bar at the top of the page and type in “Playtex bra” to view some styles. Or from the shopping page, you can search by BRAND - it's the first link on the menu. It looks like “Fresh Pair” has not updated their prices but the other major online retailers have.
Good luck finding a great fit!
Dress: Tiered Polka Dot Dress, $27.80, www.forever21.com
Kelly Rowland visits MTV's "TRL" in New York City, March 26, 2007. 
Lauren Conrad of “The Hills” at the Mark photo shoot for Avon, October 26, 2007 in Malibu, California. 
Ashanti attends the Giuseppe Zanotti NY store re-opening party at the Giuseppe Zanotti Design Boutique in New York City on September 7, 2007.
Donatella Versace: It’s unclear how Gianni Versace’s sister morphed from a normal-looking woman in the 1990s to a woman with a face that seems to be at odds with itself. On one hand, everything seems plumped and swollen; on the other hand, there is something shriveled and defeated about her newfound visage. What is clear, however, is that two of the main culprits for her scariness now are collagen and Botox. While her lips have grown exponentially over the years, parts of her face have frozen and once-visible wrinkles have disappeared. Her nose also seems different, but, in a mysterious twist, it appears larger and wider than it did before she started tumbling down the plastic path. Rumor is that her admitted 18-year cocaine addiction had an affect.
Joan Rivers: TV talk show host and comedienne Joan Rivers has had a booming career in show business, but unfortunately she is now best know for looking like a Jim Henson puppet. Face lifts and liposuction are mainstays in Rivers’ world, whose comedic chops have benefited from her openness about her love of plastic surgery. She once told the Daily Mail that it’s “better a new face coming out of an old car than an old face coming out of a new car. Spend your money on you.” At 73, Rivers looks pretty plastic and says she’ll keep up the procedures as long as she’s alive.
Michael Jackson: Michael Jackson started out in life as a cute kid with a wide nose and big smile. But in his mid-20s, he began an obsessive and detrimental relationship with the knife. Having had his first nose job in the early 1980s, he then shocked the limits of societal acceptance since men rarely had cosmetic improvements done in those days. But if one nose job was taboo then, a dozen are taboo now. Over the course of two decades, Jackson has thoroughly destroyed his face through several different nose procedures (as well as procedures to his cheek bones, his skin tone, and his eyebrows.) As plastic surgeon after plastic surgeon botched the job, Jackson went through some periods where his nose looked like it was literally falling off or like he had a hole in the middle of his skull. Lately, Jackson at least looks like he’s whole again, although after all of the manipulations he is a remnant of his former self.
Nicole Richie: Nicole Richie’s bad makeover was accomplished independent of any plastic surgeons. After the first season of the Simple Life aired, Richie began dropping weight rapidly. At her thinnest, Richie weighed 90 pounds and was visibly emaciated with bones poking through her skin on every part of her body. She has since filled out a little, and looks much better after delivering her first child in January. But there is no erasing those gaunt images from the minds of the public. A lesson to all you from Nicole, make sure you eat all your fruits and vegetables or you'll look like THAT! Gross.
Tara Reid: In 2006, Tara Reid landed on the cover of US Weekly Magazine for giving an interview in which she detailed the horrors of her botched plastic surgery procedures. A boob job in 2004 left her with misshapen nipples, which were broadcast all over the web during a red carpet appearance when her dress fell down on one side. Reid also had a procedure called Body Contouring done to her stomach to give her the appearance of washboard abs. Instead, her stomach came out looking exactly like a washboard – ripply and bumpy – and she was frequently ridiculed in the tabloids for her unnatural appearance. Reid has since had her body fixed.
Kenny Rogers: A facelift and eye reconstruction turned Kenny Rogers’ amiable country face into something suitable for a Sigfried and Roy show. Rogers has been candid about his displeasure with his plastic surgery experiment, which began innocently enough with an attempt to remove some fine lines and wrinkles around his eyes. Unfortunately, Rogers’ surgeon was a little too thorough and the resulting taut mug made Rogers look as if he was stuck in a gale-force windstorm. He has said that he plans to have more plastic surgery to fix what has been done.
Jocelyn Wildenstein: Famous for being disgustingly rich, Wildenstein has now earned a reputation as being the single most botched-up plastic surgery experiment in history. One glance at her face now reveals that there isn’t much she hasn’t had done – cheek bone enhancement, eye reconstruction, facelifts, Botox, and most definitely countless lip injections. Wildenstein, who won millions in her divorce from rich art dealer Alec Wildenstein, has allegedly spent well over $4 million on plastic surgery and her ex-husband once famously quipped, “I couldn’t even recognize my own wife up close. She seems to think you fix a face the same way you fix a house.” Wildenstein is repeatedly listed on lists of worst plastic surgery jobs and has even been given the nickname “The Bride of Wildenstein.”
Melanie Griffith: Melanie Griffith’s romps with plastic surgery have succeeded in making this once-cute actress look fake and old. While there aren’t any gaping holes, Griffith’s noticeable facelift and botox regimen, along with the heavy collagen injections in her lips, give her the appearance of a dried-up socialite desperately clinging to her youth with surgery and pancake makeup. If she continues down this path, Griffith will be shelved in history along with surgery addicts like Rivers and Wildenstein. Griffith’s husband Antonio Banderas has also publicly denounced her attempts at false enhancement, saying “The lust for beauty is a terrible thing. I have forbidden her from ever going to a cosmetic surgeon again. It is something we have agreed to for the sake of our marriage.”
Priscilla Presley: Elvis’ ex-wife has had a litany of plastic surgery procedures performed on her face in the past several years. Her main mistake it appears is getting too much done to the point where she looks like a wax statue of her former self. Her cheeks have lost all definition and are significantly puffed up due to being filled with some sort of filler or implant and her upper face is practically immovable, she’s had so much Botox. Presley clearly does not adhere to the mantra that less is more.
Cher: Cher has described herself as the “plastic surgery poster girl.” She’s had a nose job, breast implants, and a host of other procedures to make her skin and face look younger. She’s achieved a plastic look worthy of Joan Rivers’ admiration, but not of other stars. Jodie Foster has criticized Cher’s surgery-happy attitude, saying the singer was “fighting a losing battle” against aging.
David Gest: Music producer David Gest shot back into the limelight a few years ago when he married Liza Minelli, with his best man Michael Jackson at his side. But since becoming a minor celebrity, Gest’s strange and crafted appearance has taken many hits from the public. While his taut and plastic appearance suggests routine trips to the plastic surgeon, Gest contends that he’s only had one procedure in the early 1980s on the recommendation of Jackson. During those operations, Gest had a facelift, nose job, cheek implants, and a cleft chin, and says he regrets each one.
Farah Fawcett: Hollywood’s one-time golden girl now looks like one of the Golden Girls after several procedures – including a face lift, brow lift, and cheek implants – have backfired, literally, in her face. In an attempt to look younger, Fawcett has aged herself perceptibly after some procedures done in 2004 that deformed her features a little. Today, she has had even more work done to correct what went wrong, but it’s clear that she’s gone a little too far to turn back.
Lil’ Kim: Lil’ Kim, the female rapper who splashed onto the scene after having a controversial affair with late rapper Notorious B.I.G., is now known largely for the notorious things she’s done to her face and body. Copying at once both Michael Jackson and Priscilla Presley, Kim has had her skin lightened, her cheeks implanted with loads of fat or large implants, a brow lift and a pretty extreme Jackson-esque nose job. Plastic surgeon Dr. Tony Youn has said in his blog that someone should “stop her before she looks like an alien.”
Janice Dickinson: Just call her Skeletor. Janice Dickinson has had so much plastic surgery that her face is coming to resemble a chiseled stone sculpture of HeMan’s arch nemesis. Dickinson has reportedly had almost a dozen procedures and basically every facial and body feature worked on. Her own son has asked her to stop repeatedly, worried that she’s going to ruin her looks for good. But Dickinson shows no remorse, proudly claiming in interviews that everything about her is fake.
Latoya Jackson: Following in the footsteps of her brother, Latoya Jackson has completely changed the natural appearance of her face. In fact, one look at her nose would lead anyone to believe that she and Michael use the same plastic surgeon. Her thin, tent-shaped nose, tiny nostrils and purposely paled skin make her a dead ringer for her brother. She has also reportedly had an eyebrow lift, and some would venture to guess that her chest has also been enhanced.
Jackie Stallone: This astrologer and mother of Sylvester Stallone has surpassed the legal limit of plastic bodily modifications. If there was such a thing as a law against too much plastic surgery, Stallone would certainly be in the slammer. She is basically unrecognizable and very, very scary looking. The once very beautiful Stallone now looks as if she was Rocky's sparring partner. I wonder if she melts in the heat?
Leslie Ash: The British actress who stars in the hit show Men Behaving Badly, received some bad attention of her own after undergoing a lip-plumping procedure that badly distorted her face. She became the British poster child for plastic surgery gone wrong. This probably isn't the worst case but it is bad nonetheless.
Burt Reynolds: This 1970s heartthrob, once voted the “Sexiest Man Alive” by People Magazine, now looks more like a paper mache bust of Robert Goulet, after his face lift managed to do nothing more than stretch his crepey skin tight across his face. Reynolds also appears to have had a brow lift and nose job in the years since Smoky and the Bandit. His stretched-out face has even inspired some sympathy, with one article quoting a person who saw Reynolds close up as saying his face looked “painful.” Lay off the plastic surgery Burt you don't look good.
Carrot Top: No one knows for sure what Carrot Top did to his body and face, but many speculate extensive plastic surgery procedures – like a brow lift and Botox – and possibly even steroids. The comedian’s face appears to be trying to move to the top of his skull and his new torso complete with six-pack abs and disproportionately huge biceps have many people scratching their heads in curiosity. Maybe he figured he wasn't getting enough spotlight so he'd botch his surgery to catch the public eye.
Mickey Rourke: Mickey Rourke has had so much work done his face is immovable. He’s been stretched tight and shot up by some of the worst plastic surgeons out there, having had his facial bones reconstructed and his skin pulled to the brink of protest. It seems to keep getting worse as Rourke tries to undo what’s been done with more surgery. Mickey used so much surgery in fact that he is was nominated for the Most life-like action figure award 5 years running!
