The case of the missing videos

Our web page stats have gone through the roof today! And it's all because of a review I did of the now-defunct Breathe magazine, a yoga-meets-lifestyle magazine, in which I mentioned an article about former hard-partying girl Rielle Hunter who claimed that she found enlightenment. Now Rielle Hunter is a hot news item for making mini-documentaries of Presidential candidate John Edwards that the Edwards campaign apparently doesn't want to show. For more, see Overlawyered: Rielle Hunter and John Edwards, which has been the referring URL for many visits to The Style Page blog, and follow the links.

Former vice-Presidential candidate Edwards's campaign is lagging behind the campaigns of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. Until Rielle Hunter came along, no one had brought as much life into his campaign as Ann Coulter!

Goddessy Rx 14-piece natural brush set

Goddessy is now selling its 14 Piece Brush Set and its other products through Amazon.com.


Goddessy's brush set.

The cosmetic brush set is packed in a cosmetics roll ready for travel.

I'm partial to the eye shadow brush which has a flat head but a slant edge - great for contouring. I'm also using combo brow brush/eyelash comb to groom my eyebrows prior to applying tint.

Finds from The Container Store

I can go nuts at The Container Store buying cute things for storage and organization. I'm compulsive about buying things to better organize my activities, as though the mere act of buying will make me better organized - ha! I recently went on a shopping spree at The Container Store, and the picture above shows only some of what I bought.

At upper left is the To-Do pad from WhoMi. This colorful collection of note pads are spiral-bound together and there is a color-coded pad for each shop, call, and do.

At upper right is the Memo Pocket from Moleskine, best known for its notebooks. The Memo Pocket is actually a mini Accordion file folder that can fit in your handbag. It's great for sorting and organizing receipts, coupons, and other scraps of paper.

At lower left and lower right are Post-It note pads from Russell+Hazel. The Memo Notes at lower left feature a vertical bar on the left side where you can circle the month and day. Alas, the type is itty-bitty, and the orange and pink make it even more difficult to read. The Chicklet Notes are tiny (3/4" x 1") Post-It note pads. The pack consists of eight pads, two of each in pink, blue, green, and orange. Many people think that Russell+Hazel is overpriced, but dang, their products are so cute!

What gives?

For me, sitting around at the hair salon is an opportunity for me to catch up on magazines. I was waiting as my husband got his hair cut, and picked up the current issue of Allure, with Britney Spears on the cover. It was surreal. The photo spread, which featured a topless Spears (with her breasts discreetly covered by her hands or arms), was accompanied by Judith Newman's article about her unsuccessful efforts to get an interview with Spears. Then, there was Editor-in-chief Linda Wells's tortured (and ultimately lame) justification for putting Spears on the cover. What gives?

Just go to the Allure web site - it's all about boosting magazine sales.

PS I didn't watch MTV's Video Music Awards, but by all accounts, Spears' headliner performance was a disaster. While Kanye West's insistence that he should have been headliner is proof of his overweaning ego, he was probably right when he said that MTV "exploited" Spears for TV ratings.

Does this woman (Spears) have anything else to offer than exposing her body? Are Allure and MTV so deficient in imagination that they must exploit this woman's tabloid-worthy escapades and problems to promote themselves?

A lousy mascara, a so-so mascara, and a great mascara

Bésame is a boutique cosmetics line that replicates vintage cosmetic containers from the 30s and 40s - its reproductions are more authentic than Body & Soul, another cosmetics line that strives for vintage appeal. I've had good things to say about Bésame's Enchanting Lipstick, but I can't say the same for its Sculpture Lash Mascara in Black, a recent addition to its line (Bésame has also added Enriched Lip Glaze to its line). This mascara doesn't build any volume and it smears as well. This mascara is not worth the $26.00 price charged for a single tube.

Curiously, the Bésame Sculpture Lash Mascara in Plum doesn't smear, but like the one in Black, it doesn't build up volume.

The find is L'Oreal HIP's High Drama Volumizing Mascara in Ultimate Bronze Black, part of its limited edition collection in orangey shades. It really makes eyelashes appear thick, and doesn't smear. At $9.99 a tube, it's a great mascara at a much more comfortable price point than Bésame's Sculpture Lash Mascara.