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Friday , July 3, 2009
Beauty: Sparkles for your 4th, and some random David Bowie worship
Way back before you could buy glitter gel at Claire's, like '94 or something, I went through a weird phase of layering Crayola Glitter Glue over my blue eye shadow. Kind of gross, but actually really effective. Now I'm probably too "mature" for both the Claire's stuff and any art supplies stolen/borrowed from my little sister's craft box, but I still fancy shimmery things like Shiseido Silky Eye Shadow, Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil, and sometimes Maybelline Expert Wear Eye Shadow (preferred shade: Antique Jade).
My two new favorite sparkly products, perfect for Fourth of July: FACE atelier's Gold Rush eye shadow line and Rimmel Underground's Light Beam After Dark Lip Gloss. The eye shadows come in six golden shades, each with a slightly metallic glimmer that Pierre La Roche could've used to apply that freaky astral sphere to Ziggy Stardust's forehead back in the day. (I'm most into the Bullion shadow, which has a bit of a Creamsicle-dreamy tint to it.) Equally glammy is the Rimmel gloss in Strobe Light, which is all silvery-shiny and bubblegum-flavored. The coolest part: Push down the little button on top of the cap, and you've switched on a tiny-yet-powerful LED light at the cap's base - all the better for peeking into the little mini mirror attached to the gloss' vial. Genius!
(Cute nogoodforme.com side note: I still have a few sparklers left from the box that our Kat sent me a very long time ago, during holidaytime of either 2000 or 2001. I might light one up and spell out my name tomorrow night, 'cause capital cursive 'L's are the loveliest letters in all the land.)
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by Liz in Beauty
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Monday , December 8, 2008
Reader Discount: 10% Off at Baudelaire Soaps! Who doesn't love pretty-looking and -smelling bathroom stuff? It makes the practicality of bodily hygiene into a luxury, it's useful to both give and receive as a gift (hint, hint) and it just smells and feels good. Baudelaire Soaps is one of those bath product companies that are all French-y, tasteful and quietly elegant; using their stuff will allow you to convince yourself that you're in Provence, at least in the confines of your own shower. The kind folks there were totes sweet and thoughtful enough to give nogoodforme readers a 10% off coupon code that's good for anything in the store. AND it lasts till spring, so it's not just a holiday thing, either! Go to: Baudelaire Soaps, code is NoGoodSoap2008 until April 2009! Below are some of my picks: 1. Provence Sante Bergamot Eau de Toilette, $30. I'm in love with all things bergamot, which is kind of spicy but light and citrus-y. This is an incredibly generous amount of fragrance for $30, the kind of thing to remind you of summer. 2. Jardin de l'Olivier Wooden Gift Box set, $45. I'd love this just for the packaging alone! Luckily, olive oil moisturizing anything is totally great for your skin, too. 3. Chianti Cashmere Soap and Bath sampler, $25. I'm such a bath product whore that I've taken to buying samplers of things just so I don't get bored and suffer from product ADD. The idea of "liquid cashmere" is kind of mind-bogglingly sensual beyond words. 4. Essence 2-Bar Gift Box in sandalwood/rosewood, $12.50. Sandalwood and rosewood are some of my favorite smells: sultry but natural. Trust me, this soap smells goooooood. 5. Sunny! Lip Balm, $3. I think this is charming just for the bumblebee graphic alone! SPF 15 makes this balm good for you -- and it tastes like creamsicles! 6. Jardin de l'Olivier leap soap, $12. It's almost a shame to use this organic soap because the shape is so pretty!
Tags: Baudelaire Soaps, coupon codes, promotions
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by Kat in Contests and Promotions
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Wednesday , August 6, 2008
Ask Us Anything: Red Lipstick De-Virgination
I want to move into the world of red lipstick, or lip stain, but where to start? What's a lovely brand and shade that isn't too garish and is a good starter for a lipstick virgin?
-- Laura
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Tags: beauty, Cherries in the Snow, Daniel Craig, Fresh, heartbreak, international espionage, Nars, red lipstick, Wet 'N Wild, Yves Saint Laurent
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by Kat and Liz in Ask Us Anything
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Monday , June 16, 2008
Kiehl's Summer Book Exchange (Best Idea Ever, Almost)
Something about summer makes me really nostalgic for Annie's Book Stop, my favorite used-book store in all the world. Sadly the location nearest to me is in Missouri, so I guess I'll have to wait till I visit home and/or Maine later this season to get my Annie's fix. In the meantime, there's a nice little alternative: Starting June 24 (and continuing through Labor Day), Kiehl's is doing this thing where you can go to any of their freestanding stores, drop off a used book, and pick out a new book in exchange. And, if you also buy a sun-preparation product, Kiehl's will give you a bookmark that reminds you to reapply your sunscreen (and you know how we love sunscreen - have you been wearing your SPF 30 lip balm, by the way?).
Oh, and, since today's Imaginary Shopping Spree day on nogoodforme, let's have a peek at the Kiehl's products I'm coveting most at the moment: (left to right) Creme with Silk Groom, Lavender Foaming-Relaxing Bath with Sea Salts and Aloe Vera, Abyssine Serum, and Herbal Toner with Mixed Berries and Extracts,
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by Liz in Beauty
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Wednesday , May 7, 2008
Three things you absolutely need for sun protection Summer's here! (Almost, anyway.) I couldn't be more psyched for many Saturdays spent frolicking in the surf at Zuma, but there's also that "eek" factor having to do with my intense of getting too much sun. The deal with me is that when I was 25 I had the worst kind of skin cancer, that very ugly word beginning with a very ugly "M." Blessedly, it was detected very, very early and everything was taken care of, which means now I've got some bad-ass scars on my back and could very well end up titling my memoir either Holy Moley! or Making Mountains Out of Molehills. Anyway, in my other life as a health writer, I recently wrote a story about skin-cancer prevention and learned a few new things that made me go, "Dude, if I don't already know all this stuff, what are the chances that most other girls do?" And so, here, I give you a little rundown of three things you absolutely need for sun protection. It barely covers all you need to know, and I'd strongly suggest reading this Green Guide story as well. (And this is probably the most important thing I've ever written here, even more critical than that bit about how Evan Dando and Bret Michaels are kind of the same person, so do listen up. Thank you.)
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by Liz in Beauty
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Wednesday , March 19, 2008
LaLicious goodies for wicked cheap I was just about to despair at having nearly emptied my latest jar of oh-so-yummers LaLicious Coconut Cream Sugar Souffle Moisturizing Body Scrub. But then, voila, I get this happy email about how LaLicious is having a big fat sale on their travel sets and wash-and-mitt kits - which means that you can get a travel-size thing of scrub plus body butter and body wash and body oil, all for $20. And the wash-and-mitt sets are only 10 bucks, a crazy steal considering the utter deelishness of LaLicious' scents. I'm deeply devoted to the Coconut Cream but might try out the Lily Mango or Island Guava, as I'm really feeling the urge to smell like a Hawaiian beach or a fruity cocktail or some delightful combination thereof at the moment.
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by Liz in Beauty
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Thursday , December 13, 2007
Giving the gift of mushed-up stuff My little sister is the easiest person to shop for - she's 16 and I'm due to hit 30 in...umm...just about two weeks, but we love a lot of the same things (Rilo Kiley! Weeds! Extravagant hoodies!) so there's never any agonizing over what might strike her fancy. One of my gifts for her this Christmas is FarmHouse Fresh's Strawberry Smash, a so-deelish-we-really-want-to-eat-it-all-up moisturizer that's "hand-assembled" from aloe and shea butter and yummy strawberry extract. It's just $20 for seven ounces and comes with that adorable little jute bag, plus the vintage jelly jar is too cute for words. (For my own personal beauty consumption, by the way, I'm eyeing the Sweet Cream Body Milk, if only for the corked glass cruet and the gift box declaring: "OUR COWS EAT COOKIES.")
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by Liz in Beauty
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Thursday , November 8, 2007
Beauty: Smoky Eyes, the Importance of Good Tools and Curve's Toni Halliday The real question, though, is which eyeliner concept are we going for? The Audrey Hepburn classic ingenue wing? The heavy bedroom-eyed flirtatious Brigitte Bardot? The thin-lined-and-nothing-else "scary cool girl who got stoned a lot and listened to heavy metal in the parking lot"? (God, I wonder what that girl is up to these days.) However, the person I nominate for most inspirational eyeliner concept is the person who inspired me to embark on this hot mess in the first place: Toni Halliday of the band Curve, who is the real reason for this entry -- deep down, I really just want to post the video for "Horror Head." Undersung as an alternative heroine, Halliday provided the sultry, throaty alto in Curve's slightly Goth, electroindustrial take on shoegazer music in the early 1990s. I dug up their 1992 debut Doppelganger recently and besides some dated production, it's still as darkly alluring as ever; now I'm waiting for NYLON to dig up some old pictures for their Private Icon series. Till then, bat your eyes to this -- it's totally my alt-90s.
When the good people at Coutorture sent me a Smokey Eye Kit brush set a little bit back as a sort of thank you for being a member from way back when, little did they know they would be tapping into one of my two genuine beauty obsessions. (The other is fragrance, but I won't submit you to my rhapsodies about Serge Lutens and Jean-Claude Ellena quite yet.) I've been a little over-conceptual and vaguely obsessive about eyeliner and getting that perfectly smoky eye, most likely because this is the single most difficult beauty feat for me to accomplish, thanks in no part to being Asian. As it turns out, the axiom is totally true: whether it is painting canvasses or painting eyelids, having good tools in any endeavor is half the battle. These brushes are soft, and they make the job of getting that perfect smoky eye so much easier, with the help of a little of Nars eyeshadow in Nightclubbing, always our defacto glam dark shadow.
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by Kat in Beauty
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Tuesday , June 12, 2007
Eco-Pretty: Lush Fresh Face Skincare Starter Kit I've been traveling over the past week, hopping from L.A. to Providence to my Massachusetts hometown to New York City to Boston and back again. Usually my skin is in constant freakout mode while I'm on the road, but this time around it's remained relatively calm and almost entirely blemish-free (despite the fact that I've spent my trip doing stuff like drinking Cherry Coke for breakfast at the Port Authority bus station, shunning sleep in favor of plowing through my 15-year-old sister's O.C. box set, and passing out with my makeup still on after last Friday's show/party/screening at 21 Mercer Street in Soho). My skin's good behavior probably has lots to do with my using Lush's new Fresh Face Skincare Starter Kit since I've been in the Northeast. I've got the combination-skin kit, which includes adorable trial-sized versions of the Eau Roma Water facial toner, Imperialis moisturizer (with St. John's wort and tiger lily extract), and Angels on Bare Skin cleanser. I'm sort of afraid of the moisturizer, since I'm completely paranoid about straying from my much-trusted Bare Escentuals cream, but I've fallen in love with the Angels on Bare Skin. It's made from ground almonds and rose and lavender - with a bunch of fat little dried lavender buds right in the jar - and it's got a really fun spongy consistency that feels so nice on your skin. The product's not supersmooth, so I like to put a dab on my palm and then swirl it around with a few drops of warm water before smearing it on. It makes your face feel so soft and fresh and most likely won't irritate even the most irritable of skin (such as mine). The Eau Roma Water is lovely as well - it's a blend of lavender and rose water, which is extra-perfect when it's all hot and muggy out and you need to cool your skin down. Anyway, all this goodness nearly makes up for the fact that I don't have time to get one last Dunkin Donuts tea before heading west, and that the stereo system at the Providence airport is currently playing a very flute-heavy Muzak rendition of "Always Something There To Remind Me." Just so you know.
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by Liz in Beauty
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Tuesday , June 5, 2007
Beauty: I scream, you scream, etc. If you live in L.A. then maybe you've had the supreme privilege of eating gelato at Scoops. If you don't live in L.A., then maybe you should move here just so you can eat gelato at Scoops. Owner Tai Kim invents all these brilliant flavor combinations, like Black Truffle with Honey, Goat Cheese and Purple Basil, Almond Creme Fraiche and Marsala, and Pumpkin Tiramisu. The menu changes all the time, but some of my all-time favorites are Lavender Avocado, Brown Bread, and Chocolate Guinness. And one of the cutest things is that Tai has a dry-erase board where you can add your flavor requests. I always ask for Thai Tea, which in comparison to most existing menu items seems really boring, but oh well. The more ingenious and ice-cream-obsessed ladies out there may want to try their hands at ME! Bath's ice cream contest. Starting last Friday, the L.A.-based purveyors of ice-cream-themed beauty treats have begun accepting ideas for their newest bath bomb flavor. Winners will get a basket of ME! Bath stuff and a year's subscription to the Ice Cream of the Month Club (through which four Bath Ice Cream scoops will get delivered to your door each month). They've already got Vanilla Berry Ambrosia, Lychee Blossom, Gin Martini, and nearly 40 other flavors, so put your thinking caps on. Contest winners will be announced July 18. In the meantime I'm loving ME! Bath's new Hawaiian Lei Body Wash, which is yummily infused with hibiscus and orchid and white ginger extracts and makes me want to sip fancy tropical cocktails whilst in the shower.
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by Liz in Beauty
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