This or that?

I posted these Miu Miu flats a while back.  Love the color block, the pointy toe, the slight bit of heel.

 

 

 

Then I came across these Prada flats.  The obvious similarities are the two tone, the pointy toe, that little heel. 

Such a dilemma!  The Miu Miu are slightly more casual, with the loafer or slipper styling.  The Prada are pretty and feminine, the Miu Miu a bit more borrowed from the boys.  Either works really well with cropped pants, jeans, sleek dresses. 

Which brings up a question.  What's the difference between Miu Miu and Prada anyway?  Aren't they all the same designer? 

But I digress.  What am I going to do about the flats question?  Prada or Miu Miu?  Miu Miu or Prada?  Both gorgeous, both very wearable and classic enough to last for years.  I don't need nor can I afford both.  I have to choose!! 

Another lip color review

I wasn't kidding in that earlier post. I love lip colors. I have literally dozens and dozens in my bathroom cabinet.  I am a sucker for packaging and marketing. If I see something fabulous in a store, I buy it.  When someone recommends a lippie, I buy it.  I watch for new products, I consume magazine articles about lip colors.  This explains the dozens and dozens I mentioned above.

Naturally, when one of my favorite bloggers recommended a new lip color, I tried it.  It was an epic fail.  Beautiful color and beautiful packaging that looked and felt good for about 1/2 hour, after which it became an odd combination of tacky and dry, wore unevenly, looked patchy and messy all at the same time.  But the color, oh the color! It was summer in a tube.  The perfect orangey-coral with golden flecks.  Here it is, but don't buy it.

Revlon It Girl Ultimate Suede Lipstick. Bad, bad, bad.

Still, the perfect color in that tube haunted me.  There had to be something similarly bright and pretty!  Something that wouldn't make me look like a failed science experiment.

Stumbling through Walgreen's the other day, looking for a new flat iron, I passed an end cap.  There it was.  My perfect summer lippie.  Revlon Super Lustrous Shine Lipstick in Lovers Coral.  It's almost the identical color to it's messy cousin, without the gold flecks.  It goes on very sheer, and the color is buildable by adding more coats.  It's very moisturizing with smooth and even application. 

 

 

This is a product I can get behind and recommend.  In fact, I've already picked it up in more colors.

Obsession: All Saints Reptile Quad Jacket

This jacket has been floating around in my cerebellum since it landed on the All Saints website a few months ago.  It's perfect for me and the climate I live in.  Light leather that is easy to care for - the website says regular dry clean (not the super expensive specialty leather dry clean) - and easy to wear.  Perforated panels with solid sleeves, and the sleeves are short.  What better garment for spring and fall in the desert?  With a long sleeved turtleneck or tee, it transitions easily to winter.  Given that I work in an office building chilled to arctic levels, it would even work in the summer.

In my wardrobe this baby would be extremely versatile, the obvious use being weekend casual.  The streamlined shape and classic cut means it would also work well over a sheath dress, or as a topper to a pencil skirt and silk tee.  Alas, the bank account does not allow even such a well reasoned purchase.  Starting out at $785.00, it was recently marked down 20% to $628.00.  Still too rich for my blood. 

 

If memory serves, All Saints had a code for 4th of July last year, even though they are a UK based company.  Cross your fingers they do the same next week and I can grab this little gem at a discount.



Review: Aerin beach cream

In the summer time I'm all about easy and minimal. Easy as in a streamlined beauty routine, and minimal as in not much clothing.  Simple makeup, simple hair, simple outfits.  Your skin and hair are front and center when everything else is low key.  You want to look fresh and glowy, with a hint of color.

Enter Aerin beach cream, a multipurpose product that works equally well on skin and hair.  It's not greasy, it has a light scent and it makes your legs look terrific.  Put it on the ends of your damp hair and hit it with the blow dryer, it will have body with a golden sparkle. 

 

While it can be used for everyday, it's called beach cream for a reason.  Take it with you on your next vacation to keep your skin soft and create beachy sunkissed hair. Available here and lots of other online retailers, $45.    

Review: Ilia lipstick crayon

I love a good lippie.  Lipstick, lip gloss, lip stain - you name it, it lives in my bathroom waiting it's turn to be the lip color of the day in my makeup bag.  I demand a lot of a lip product. I needs to be creamy, long lasting, not stick to my teeth or not wear off easily, stand up to some eating and drinking, and not change color during the day.  I've tried and abandoned more lip stuff than you can imagine. 

For summer I decided I need something coral.  What looks better with some blonde highlights and a little tan than coral lips?  Googling coral lipstick brought up a brand I'd never heard of, Ilia.  Natural products made with ethical and sustainable ingredients.  Green beauty is very popular and a good idea, but to be honest I'd wear pure arsenic if it made me look good.  My limited experience with green products has been that they don't have rich color and they don't last.  The Ilia lipstick crayons changed my mind.

I ordered the gorgeous coral, Karma Chameleon.  It goes on smooth and creamy, slightly sheer yet richly pigmented.  I made it from 7:00 a.m. to lunch time with no touch up.  After eating lunch, blotting and reapplying did the trick for the afternoon.  The color stays true, it doesn't get dry and flaky, and it feels good on the lips. 

Ilia also makes other lip products, mascara, illuminator and multipurpose sticks.  I found them online on their own site, as well as a favorite site of mine, b-glowing.com. 

Fall trends

If you're like me and get emails from your favorite retailers, you know they are pushing fall and pushing it hard.  It's still officially spring, the first day of summer is a week away, yet we're being inundated with images of coats and wool skirts.  The designers have shown their fall lines at fashion weeks around the globe, we all know what we have to look forward to.  The preordering and retailing has begun in earnest.

Each season seems to have a color or two that show up across fashion houses.  This year we're going to see a lot of grey, a lot of violet, together with black and white combinations.  The grey ranges from light dove to dark charcoal on everything from sweaters to boots.  Violet showed up in small but potent doses, appearing in dresses, bags and shoes, like this pair from Alexander McQueen.

 

Speaking of shoes, the single soled pointy toed shoe continues the charge it started in the spring.  Showing up in everything from flats to classic pumps to booties, in every color and heel height, with and without embellishment, there is much to choose from.

 

Prada

 

Each season there are trends that make it to the retail floor and onto unsuspecting fashion bloggers but are unwearable by most of us and unlikely to last until the credit card statement is paid.  Ostrich feathers and thigh high boots anyone?

 

 





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Boob pockets

I could have found a more graceful way to describe them.  They're the pockets on women's shirts and blouses that land right on the girls. 

Some of them are pretty low key.  Just a patch sewn on, almost blending in with the background.

Others are bolder, with more presence and a pocket flap.

 

Do these additions cause unwanted attention at the chest level, or do they serve a purpose?  Those with a smaller bust like the way pockets add some volume.  When the top is light colored or sheer, pockets provide a bit of coverage.  They can have the opposite effect, changing the look from sleek to sloppy. 

 

Every so often the boob pocket is just distracting and confusing, like the slanted partial pocket on this striped top.

 

 

Then there are the clean lines of a shirt without pockets. 

 

 





As with all garments, fit is key and trying on with and without pockets will help you decide what works best for you.