Friday roundup - February 29, 2008

It's Friday ... and a leap year as well! Since it's Friday, it's time to recognize notable blogging activity from friends of The Style Page:

Mischo Beauty discovers the butter London line of nail polishes, which are free of formaldehyde, toluene or dibutyl phthalate. You may find butter London at b-glowing.

Beauty Maverick loves the Cannabis Santal Scented Candle from Fresh. She also reacts to the news that druggie Amy Winehouse is set to launch her own beauty line: No, no, no.

~charng of Frivolous Rants returns to blogging after a month's absence. She examines how changing female roles have affected marriage. Given the angry response my article on Let's Stop Glamorizing Pregnancy Out of Wedlock has generated, I think that some might be offended by the traditionalist views (not necessarily her own) that ~charng describes and seemingly longs for at some level. In that case, it's important to remember that she's writing as a member of the Chinese community in Malaysia - a far more traditional society than the U.S. or, for that matter, Europe.

Beauty Addict has disdained most celebrity fragrances, with the exception of Sarah Jessica Parker's Lovely and Covet. Now she admits her fondness for Glow by J. Lo and the new (married) mother's latest fragrance Deseo.

We love our friends

Soon after I posted my frustration and disappointment with the success of this blog, it was only right that I should give recognition to those folks who have listed The Style Page on their blogrolls.

There's Kristen, who graciously included this blog on the blogroll for her hugely sucessful Beauty Addict blog, which was covered by the New York Times. She also announced our (now closed) promotions with Real Cosmetics and Anne Maa Designs through her blog.

There's Retainer Girl, who blogs at Soul-Piercing Reflections. She loves Jane Austen, John Cusack, Sam Cooke, and Motown. She gave me encouragement to carry on with this blog. I prefer the Brontë sisters to Jane Austen, but I share her fondness for R&B and soul music (thanks to Starbucks' Hear Music compilations). Seems that she and I could have a lot to talk about.


~charng from Frivolous Rants

Finally, there's ~charng from Malaysia, who blogs on whatever she wants to share at Frivolous Rants.



New is I♥M·A·C, who blogs at I♥makeup. It's evident that she's interested in beauty from India. I have a soft spot for India myself, as my husband's from India and my in-laws who live in India have accepted me as family.

These are the folks I know who are listing The Style Page on their blogrolls. If there's anyone else who lists this blog on her (or his!) blogroll, please let me know. I don't want to overlook you!

Selling Radical Chic to Teens

Radical Chic was a term coined by author Tom Wolfe to describe the soiree in which the late Leonard Bernstein hosted members of the Black Panther militant group. More recently, several retailers that market to teenage girls have been selling scarves resembling keffiyehs. The keffiyeh has been traditionally worn by men in the Middle East, and was particularly associated with the late Yassir Arafat, who wore the keffiyeh to cover his bald pate.

There has been an uproar over selling keffiyehs, as many people associate the keffiyeh with terrorism.

Below is an example from Urban Outfitters:

An ironic name for this scarf

This type of "radical chic" is reflected in T-shirts carrying the image of Che Guevara; even the perfumeur Le Labo has used Che's image to portray its fragrance line as "revolutionary." (hat tip: Beauty Addict)