Sonia Kashuk Lip Palette in Sorbets

Today’s item is the Sonia Kashuk lip gloss palette.  There are 3 versions (Nudes, Berries and Sorbets), each feauturing 5 shades in a cute compact with a mirror and a lip brush for maximum portability.  They’re all such gorgeous colors , and the texture is perfect.  I’m a major lip gloss user, and texture is such a major influence in my choices.  I hate sticky, thick-feeling gloss (unfortunately, some of Ms. Kashuk’s tubed glosses fit this bill.  Sorry, Sonia), but this feels lovely and has a great, glossy shine without a lot of sparkle.  The consistency actually reminds me of my other favorite gloss manufacturer, Prescriptives, but at $11.99, Target’s offering is less than half the price of Prescriptives’ current pallette (and I actually like the presentation better, too).  Just be careful, because the gloss is softer than you might expect and you may end up with a LOT on the tip of your brush the first couple of times.

I just love the limited edition high-end designer collections at Target!  The clothes don’t always work, but the accessory lines tend to have amazing stuff across the board.  My jaw dropped when I saw that Botkierhad a new line.  Handbags are one of those things that I typically like to go ahead and spend the money on, but as soon as I saw this line, I knew it’d be ok, just this once.  I walked out with this gorgeous fuchsia hobo bag.  I’ve gotten so many compliments on it (people actually stop me on the street) and the vibrant color really perks up any outfit.  The whole collection is very urban and sophisticated, I was very tempted to pick up this beautiful metallic rose satchel (the metallic color is much more expensive looking in person, and it’s a nice change to the usual silver/gold metallic options ), but ultimately the fuchsia seemed like it would work well through the seasons and better offset my many neutral outfits.

The downsides:  It’s PVC, not leather, and the material is a bit flimsy.  the construction is solid, but I’m not sure how well the material itself will stand up to my abuse.  Same goes for the lining,  I’m a sucker for pointless details like an adorable lining that makes me smile as I dig for that wayward lipgloss, but this is just flat black cotton that may tear when jabbed with a handful of car keys for the millionth time.  The zipper sticks a little, but doesn’t seem to have any major issues.  Overall, the appearance, roominess and hardware of the bag outweigh any faults in the materials, and I’m confident that it should still last me at least until my next favorite handbag comes along, and at $39.99, what does it really matter?  Buy it!

Today’s Target item is this awesome pair of moccasins.  This is one of those rare items that actually looks much better in person than on the website.  The golden tan color is nicely saturated through the thick, supple leather and the contrast of the strap across the front is much more subtle than it appears in the picture.  The hardware is sturdy and looks like real brass, regardless of whether or not it actually is.  They’re comfortable and substantial-looking, and the metal studs and buckle take them from the costume-y appearance of typical mocs and more into loafer territory.

These are perfect, WASP-y, “going to the country home for a long weekend” slip-ons.  They go with pretty much any preppy outfit and add a nice touch of warm color against dark jeans.  Buy them and look like you just returned from your holiday watching the regatta.

A favorite pastime of mine is hunting for expensive-looking items that may or may not have a price tag to match.  I know that sometimes you get what you pay for, but I also know that there are a lot of ways to cheat the system.  As a result, I’m obsessed with Target.  I shop there at least twice a week, and I could honestly get by in every aspect of my life if all other stores closed forever (although I’d miss Ulta a lot).  Target is amazing if you know what to buy.

With that in mind, I’ll be presenting one awesome Target find per day.  I’m only going to post things that I’ve physically seen and can vouch for the quality of, because as all Poison fans know, every rose has its thorns, and even my beloved Target sells some cheap things that just look… cheap.  Because of this, I’ll also periodical point out products that look nice online/in their ads but are of poor fit or construction in real life to protect against online shopping disappointments.

First up in the AWESOME category is this metallic bubble dress.  It’s regularly only $19.99, but is on sale through 8/23 for $17.99.  Bubble dresses can fit beautifully or repulsively depending on the cut, and this one looks fantastic.  It’s rather short, but the bubbly-ness helps in that regard by A: diffusing any thigh-related issues you may have (drapery hides a multitude of sins) and B: covering your ass when you bend over.  Now you don’t have to worry about holding the back of your dress down, the elastic does it for you!

It comes in several colors, but I’d stick to the lighter ones.  the black and dark purple versions look cool online, but hopelessly chintzy in person.  The sparkle blends nicely with the taupe and silver versions, making them look pretty luxe.  It’s also 80% cotton, so you don’t have to worry about any of the scratchiness that often accompanies sparkly clothing.

Retro-cool without being too Sonny and Cher, drapey and slimming without looking trash bag-ish, this is a great party dress for late summer (so cute with flats) OR fall (just add dark tights and heels/boots).  Buy it!

Costco.  That’s right, Costco.  The discount warehouse club with brand names that rich people feel ok about is actually a pretty good source for higher-end cosmetics, too.  Hardly something I was thinking about as I scoured the cavernous aisles for gallon-sized tubs of guacamole and free lobster spread samples, but a gleeful discovery nevertheless.  As it’s a bulk store, you will find the obligatory multipacks featuring five of the same mascara, but thankfully most of the products are sold as kits, eliminating any and all budgetary inhibitions on my behalf.  First of all, as a packaging nerd and bargain-hunter, I’m already a huge fan of kits.  While I may have difficulty justifying $15 for a single eyeshadow, I’ll gladly fork over $45 for three if you package them together (bonus if it comes in a pretty all-in-one pallette/container/easy bake oven), and cosmetic kits often feature fun bonuses like free applicators and special edition colors.  As evidenced by my much loved 30-dresses-in-1 American Apparel find, I’m easily sucked in by the lure of purchasing one thing with many possibilities.  Maybe it’s just retail ADD, who knows.

So yeah, I got The Bare Minerals Get Started Eyes kit for $39 ($10 off regular price), which is pretty great.  I’ve recently been buying into this whole mineral makeup craze in a big way.  What I’m really excited about, though, are the Stila Fall eyecolor sets they’re currently selling.  They come in Grey and Brown collections, and they’re only *NINETEEN DOLLARS*.  The set comes with a pretty aluminum palette with four gorgeous, blendable and (thank god) full-sized shadows that are perfectly matched and vividly pigmented.  It also features a gigantic mirror in the compact so you can smile at your badassery as you flaunt your now perfectly smoked eyes.  The fun doesn’t stop there, though.  The palette is already a steal, I’d expect to pay twice as much, but it’s also packaged with two full sized eyeshadow brushes AND a nice all-purpose mascara.  I ended up buying the grey one for myself (as pictured left) and a brown one for my mom.  Fricking amazing.  Oh, and they also had a Smashbox kit, but I didn’t buy it since those are frequently rip-offs, which is a whole other entry.

Costco’s stock changes frequently and varies by location, so who knows how long these will be available, but you’d better believe that I’ll be checking back pretty frequently for new specials.  This may even help to curb my unhealthy dependence on Ulta, who knows.

I’ve been a Bright Eyes fan for many years, something I’ve fiercely defended as the fanbase quickly became younger and younger and Conor Oberst was lumped into the teeny-bopper nu-emo category pretty much overnight. The poor production values, rambling storytelling and screeching yelps of early albums were all so endearing, and I selfishly hated the fact that they were being shuffled through the ipods of the SAT prep-course set. Hopefully Conor Oberst’s new solo release can change all that.

Why Conor had to do a solo project when he was the only real member of Bright Eyes to begin with seems perplexing at first. Maybe his last album was such a departure from the sound he was known for that he decided to just funnel the folk/bluegrass/Americana experimentation to another record label.  He’s slowly been injecting some country flavor into his albums for years (even packaging I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning, his first completely country-influenced album, with an electrified sister release, possibly as a buffer for any potential backlash) until it all culminated into Cassadega. Cassadega was an incredible album, but it never felt like a Bright Eyes release as it was full-on Americana.  To make matters worse, after its initial critical acclaim, it seemed like no one was really listening to it other than me.

I’m sure Conor noticed, and it seems like he ran away from the project he had been desperately trying to re-invent. Poor Conor wanted to “find himself,” and all anyone wanted was the same sort of material he was recording at 19. As a stereotypical mid-twenties semi-nomad, his decision to start afresh and make a new album in a new place exactly the way he wanted to was somewhat personally reassuring. After Conor’s flight from Omaha/New York/California, he ended up in Mexico where he diverted from the ever-increasing production quality of previous releases and got back to his “we recorded this in a bathtub” roots. It’s refreshing, and my GOD, it’s good.

This album seems to be the purest refinement yet in something that Conor has been working toward for more than a decade. The instrumentaiton is a finely-honed amalgamation of so many styles he’s dabbled in before and the vocal style is surprisingly similar to the raw youthfulness early records. It almost seems like he’s finally doing something new and fresh again and that excited energy is palpable in his voice. Sentimental, personal and sincere, the album is less about high school angst and cheesy vegan politics and more about simple, hometown storytelling and heartfelt honesty. This self-titled release is pretty much indie’s answer to Bruce Springsteen. The pretentious self-deprecation and overblown sorrow have been replaced with all-American working class joys and struggles. It’s not a far cry from Cassadega, but it diverts from the polish of that album that always seemed somewhat incongruous with the subject matter. The polygamist marriage of folk, indie, 70’s rock and American balladry has never made more sense.

Conor’s learned a few tricks along the way, as well. The confluence of influences in brilliant, and there are plenty of hooks. On ‘NYC- Gone, Gone,’ for example, Conor perfectly exploits the infectious properties of the stompable drumbeat. After all, it got radio play for Gwen Stefani when that whole ‘Hollaback Girl’ thing happened, so there’s no reason why a good song shouldn’t deploy the technique for maximum catchiness. ‘Eagle on a Pole’ builds with heartbreaking energy, and his quavering delivery is enough to put a lump in your throat without even needing to listen to the content of the lyrics. ‘I Don’t Want To Die (In a Hospital)’ is bursting with delicious, fun energy and manages to make a sad subject sort of amusing to the tune of old-timey pianos. Of course, Conor couldn’t help himself and threw in ‘Valle Mistico (Ruben’s Song)’ which is a trumpet sounding like an airhorn for one long, seeingly never-ending note, but thankfully it’s its own track that can be quickly skipped, rather than the annoying lead-in to something better.  Did I mention that the longest track is only 5:21?  It’s a great feat for someone who’s been known to indulge in the aforementioned annoying, frequently lengthy intros/outros that cause some otherwise great songs to be passed over.

This is the Conor I fell in love with so long ago. The passion and emotion are back, the references are great, the imagery is vivid and gloriously bittersweet, and the songs all work together to feel like the travel diary of a lonely transplant in an unfamiliar world. The Conor who started to lose himself in his growing fame finally became disillusioned with the idea, and rather than burning out by rehashing old material, he thankfully started fresh and made something totally new and beautiful. This is definitely an adult record, and I’m so happy that Conor didn’t let me outgrown him.

So, a teaser trailer for Disney’s next big feature animation film has come out and people are already bitching about racism. They’re finding it everywhere and not just the admittedly iffy toothless firefly. They’ve already taken voodoo out of the movie (which sucks, imho) and people still aren’t satisfied. There really is no way to make this movie without stepping on anybody’s toes and it would be nice if people just looked at it from the perspective of a child. Are they going to see race in the toothless firefly? No. If they jump to any conclusion, it will be that it’s maybe not very nice to squish the glow-y bits on the little bugs when you catch them. Also, “ewwwww she has to kiss a frog!” I, for one, am thrilled about this and I’m totally going to see it in theaters.

Source: Jezebel

Season 5 - still on Bravo!

In news that still makes my heart weep a bit, Project Runway continues its messy move over to Lifetime in spite of a lawsuit and alleged attempts by Bravo to sabotage the show. Normally this kind of change wouldn’t even register on my radar but a switch over to Lifetime is kind of a big deal. It’d be like if Fox News got their hands on Best Week Ever except, instead of constant footage of Heidi Montag and Meghan McCain eating ice cream and talking about Jesus, it’s going to be Marie Claire instead of Elle and a set of brand new producers that may or may not be smart enough to leave the show as it is. I’m sure they’ll get Suave to take over haircare.  I mean, it’s entirely possible that there will be no changes and that I’m completely overreacting – but it seems to me that the Weinstein Brothers are more interested in making a profit on what’s left of the popular reality series.

Lifetime’s Andrea Wong had this to say about the switch: “Having watercooler movies, dramas and reality shows like ‘Project Runway’ is what Lifetime Television is all about.” You know, because their movies and dramas aren’t already a complete joke. Yeah, please add one of my favorite shows to that list of garbage! Maybe instead of mentoring the designers, Tim Gunn can steal their identities and Heidi will find out that one of the contestants is really her long lost transexual brother!

Now, Bravo has so far been top notch with the shows they’ve put out so far. Top Chef and Shear Genius are both a lot of fun to watch and provide for a completely different viewing experience than most of the crap we’re force-fed these days because they all add that extra step of requiring their contestants to already be good at something. On the plus side, Sarah Jessica Parker has apparently come up with a show of her own called “American Artist” that may end up replacing Project Runway and it doesn’t sound bad at all (so long as she isn’t hosting it. Sorry, I just can’t stand to watch that woman). Hopefully it will be half as interesting as it sounds, for Bravo’s sake

As irritated by this as I am and as petty as I can be, I’ll continue to give Project Runway a chance after the move. Really, at this point, it’s just not sounding like a good idea. Maybe I’m wrong and maybe it’ll be the same show I’ve been obsessed with all these years. Still, if they kick up the drama too much, I’m gonna get mad.

Source: Variety.com

I buy too many things.  I mean, I really, really like to spend money.  This is bad because I don’t have the income that I used to, and those credit card bills aren’t looking so hot these days.  I’ve adapted fairly well to this new, ghetto-fied lifestyle, but I still try to find ways to remain fabulous on a budget.

The author and bf have seen the light.

I’d imagine many of you may be in similar situations, so please enjoy the first in what will surely be a long line of posts about awesome products that I’m “testing” (and totally not just blowing the beer money on).  It’s for the public good;  I spend money on things first so you know if they’re worth it!  At least, that’s what I’ll tell my boyfriend when the power gets shut off.

Like so many of my art school ilk, I’m an American Apparel fan.  I know, a lot of their products are kind of ridiculous (think LiLo and her glitter leggings) and YES, they only sell solid-colored clothing for the most part.  Even so, the awesome qualities of their company/merchandise surely outweigh the WTF factor.  Their ads are delightfully seedy, featuring a refreshingly makeup and photoshop-free cast of cheerful, multicultural strumpets demonstrating what the clothes look like going on or coming off rather than simply being worn.  In addition, their efforts toward immigration reform and sweatshop demolition are commendable.  Whores and progress, it’s pretty much my dream come true.

The democracy doesn’t stop there, they’re also huge proponents of making versatile clothing that can be worn several different ways.  The product information pages on their website feature slideshows with examples of different uses for each item, and some even have even how-to videos on the many variations for that piece.  I once spent an entire afternoon learning how to fashion various shirts, belts, headwraps and skirts out of a $12 scarf.  Totally worth it.  The piece-de-resistance, though, is THE DRESS.

I’d wanted it for so long, the elusive all-purpose American Apparel dress.  It beckoned to me from facebook banner ads and magazine pages.  I don’t like buying dresses online, so I *finally* dragged my ass out to the store a few weeks ago to try it out after months of lusting.  I ended up buying two, and honestly, it’s the best dress I’ve ever owned.  I’m tempted to buy a third.  I’ve already worn THE DRESS on several occasions, fashioning it differently each time.  It’s sturdy and flattering, it makes your boobs look great no matter how it’s styled and it comes in tons of colors and in two forms (pencil skirt or bias cut).  I am shocked by how versatile this thing really is, and the best part is that it keeps me from spending more money because I can wear it constantly and it always looks different and new.  It was cheap, too.  The store employees even gave me a stack of free “Legalize LA” shirts with my purchase, to promote conversation about their immigration ideals.  I can look hip AND socially conscious/politically aware at the same time?  FOR FREE???  Surely there is no better company.

I’m about to hyperventilate if I think about my love for this dress any longer, so I’ll leave it at this: wear this dress, and everyone will want to fuck you.  It’s true.  Go NOW.

I don’t know if it was actually a date or not.  I think it kind of was, or at least I wanted it to be enough that it sort of counted.  Either way, if you’ve got a dinner and a movie outing planned, there are certain types of movies that you don’t want to see and this is one of them.   This dude I like and I went out for dinner and a movie and we picked out Eastern Promises because it seemed like a fairly safe bet.  You know, there would probably be a lot of sex and violence and I like Russians and he likes Naomi Watts.  To think, we were going to watch Shoot ‘em Up. Sigh.

Don’t get me wrong, I fucking LOVED that movie.  I saw it a week later (with another dude, silly me!) and loved it just as much the second time around.  It’s been a while since I watched it, so I’m not going to get into specifics about the cinematography or anything.  The movie was definitely beautiful (as was Viggo Mortensen.  Does it get any better than him?), but that doesn’t mean that wasn’t one of the more awkward movie going experiences in my life.  (cut for spoilers)