Valentine's Day Gift Guide

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Valentine's Day Gift Guide for her (me)

The view from our living room window

Seasons Greetings from our house to yours!

Here's to a Happy Healthy & Prosperous 2013.

Julie and Amit

David Bowie & Bing Crosby (!) - Little Drummer Boy #MusicMonday #Christmas

Happy holidays from my home to yours!

Softlips® holiday limited edition review and giveaway!

Softlips® has released a limited edition collection of Christmas-y flavored lip balms, available exclusively at Target, purveyor of all things cute.

Softlips 2-pack Jack Frosting lip balm

The Style Page recent sampled Softlips® Jack Frosting lip balm from the LE collection. Dimethicone guarantees a smooth application, while sunscreen agents provide SPF 20 protection. Softlips® Jack Frosting lip balm also includes emollients such as squalane, petrolatum, and vitamin E. Softlips® describes its Jack Frosting lip balm as having a flavor like buttercream frosting. When I first opened the tube, it smelled like burnt sugar, like crème brûlée. On subsequent applications, I became aware of the buttercream flavor.  After applying the lip balm, you become aware of the cooling sensation of menthol: no wonder, as Softlips® is a trademark of The Mentholatum Company.

Softlips Vanilla and Winter Mint Holiday Gift Tag Pack

The Style Page is hosting a giveaway of limited edition Softlips® products! There are 4 prizes, for 4 winners:

• Softlips® Jack Frosting 2 pack with bonus Softlips® Vanilla and Softlips® Winter Mint Holiday Holiday Gift Tag Pack 
• Softlips® Jack Frosting 2 pack with bonus Softlips® Vanilla and Softlips® Sugar 'n' Spice Holiday Gift Tag Pack 
• Softlips® Jack Frosting 2 pack with bonus Softlips® Raspberry and Softlips® Sugar Cookie Holiday Gift Tag Pack 
• Softlips® Jack Frosting 2 pack with bonus Softlips® Raspberry and Softlips® Sugar Plum Berry Holiday Gift Tag Pack 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Black Friday

Source: someecards.com via Julie on Pinterest

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to our U.S. readers!

Source: beforeitsnews.com via Julie on Pinterest

Tell The Style Page: what are you grateful for?

Jazzy #Halloween playlist

hip hip gin gin  @HipHipGinGin put together a great playlist with Halloween themes that I put on Spotify:


Enjoy, and Happy Spookin' Halloween!

Vive le Quatorze!

July is the month for national celebrations. July 1 was Canada Day and July 4 was Independence Day. Today, July 14, is France's turn. It's Bastille Day, which commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison on July 14, 1789. The Bastille was a symbol of the absolute power of Louis XVI (he later died by the guillotine, as did his wife Marie Antoinette). Bastille Day also commemorates the birth of the French republic.

The French celebrate Bastille Day in grand style, including an air show where the tricolor is flown and a fireworks extravaganza at the Eiffel Tower.

Bastille Day air show

Fireworks extravaganza at Eiffel Tower 

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

We recognized Canada Day; we would be remiss to not recognize our very own Fourth of July:

American Flag

We associate the 4th of July with parades, barbeques, and fireworks, but let's take a few moments today to reflect on The Declaration of Independence.

Read Declaration of Independence on the National Archives web site.

Listen:

Audio mp3 Reading by Bill Barker, who portrays Thomas Jefferson at Colonial Williamsburg
Audio mp3 Reading by John F. Kennedy

The Declaration of Independence closes with these words:

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.


Indeed, several signers suffered for the cause of independence.

It surprised me to hear a man from Eritrea and a man from Pakistan say that they had memorized the Declaration of Independence in their home countries.

The Declaration of Independence is housed at the National Archives in Washington, DC. I was privileged to see the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and Bill of Rights arise from out of their vaults prior to visitor hours.

What I won't give up for Lent

Here's one bad habit I won't give up for Lent:

Cadbury's Mini Eggs - milk chocolate with brittle candy shell

This is my favorite chocolate indulgence, along with Lake Champlain's Organic Milk Sea Salt and Almonds Chocolate Bar.

What's your favorite chocolate indulgence?

Peace on Earth

Peace on Earth and goodwill to all from The Style Page.

Christmas floral arrangment

Source: Uploaded by user via Julie on Pinterest

My husband took this photo of a floral arrangement and enhanced it with Photoshop.

Happy Hanukkah

Happy Hannukah to readers of The Style Page who celebrate the holiday:

Source: thestylepage.blogspot.com via Julie on Pinterest

The Style Page is (belatedly) aware that Hanukkah began Tuesday, December 20; nonetheless, it didn't want the holiday go by without our greetings!

Ultimate Holiday #Beauty Gifts UPDATED

Thirteen shopping days before Christmas, and here are my picks for the ultimate holiday beauty gifts. From left to right:

Clarisonic Plus Skin Care Sonic Cleansing System - I was skeptical about Clarisonic until I had a chance to try it. You don't have to apply pressure to clean your face, and you can switch out the face brush head with the body brush head to exfoliate your skin in the shower.

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Tour Atour perfumed bracelet - If Ellis Faas is the cosmetics story of 2009, then Maison Francis Kurkdjian is THE fragrance story of 2009. Parfumeur Francis Kurkdjian has made fragrance conceptual art, through staging a light, sound, and scent show and other spectacles at Versailles. His new fragrance line Maison Francis Kurkdjian is as innovative as his conceptual art. Among its unique products is the Tour Atour perfumed bracelet.

Edward Bess Lip Wardrobe - Each winter holiday brings a slew of gift sets and limited edition palettes, the cheesiest being the mammoth palettes from Markwins International's The Color Workshop. This set of 10 lipsticks and 5 lip glosses is elegantly presented in a black lacquer box. It's exclusive to Bergdorf Goodman.

Don't expect value gifts here. The Clarisonic system costs around $200, while the Edward Bess Lip Wardrobe costs a whopping $400!

UPDATE Want to see more ultimate beauty gifts and salivate? Visit Best beauty gifts, as told by beauty bloggers from Queen of the Quarter Life Crisis. My input was the Bond No. 9 New York Bon Bon Box.

Givenchy's Sparkling Holiday 2008 Collection

Givenchy, as a cosmetics brand, looked like it was about to disappear. The brand retained its signature prism palettes, but otherwise didn't generate much excitement. That changed with the hiring of makeup artist Nicolas Degennes.

Degennes' Holiday 2008 Collection for Givenchy features sparkling pink and purple shades. I sampled Givenchy Rouge Interdit Shine Lipstick - Holiday 2008 07 Rose Shine and Givenchy Pop Gloss Crystal Rose By Night from the Holiday 2008 Collection. I also tried Givenchy Mister Bright Touch Of Light Pen Dawnlight.


Givenchy Rouge Interdit Shine Lipstick - Holiday 2008 07 Rose Shine

Rouge Inderdit Shine Lipstick is my favorite of the three products I tried. It's smooth on the lips and features subtle sparkle. And the fragrance is delectable as well! Also, check out the special packaging, with the purple acrylic case embellished with gold starbursts, for the Holiday 2008 collection. I'd buy Rouge Inderdit Shine Lipstick again.

Wand gloss is not my preferred way to apply lip color; moreover, I found Pop Gloss Crystal Crystal Lip Gloss sticky. However, Rose by Night adds subtle color, shimmer, and shine.

Mister Bright is a liquid eye brightener that begs comparison with cult favorite Touche Éclat Radiant Touch from YSL Beaute. Mister Bright is more glimmery and has a thicker consistency than Touche Éclat. While Touche Éclat use a "click" mechanism to dispense the product, Mister Bright uses a twist mechanism.

Discount on jewelry from Stylism.com

Here's a special for the holidays: the online jewelry store Stylism is offering a 10% discount off every item, in addition to discounts such as its automatic 10% on orders over $200.

While The Style Page did not partner with Stylism on this discount, we did partner with Stylism before. I purchased a necklace of crochet-wrapped rings from Elizabeth Gillett through Stylism, at a signficantly lower price than that quoted in the magazine. Stylism fills its orders quickly, and I had the satisfaction of developing a rapport with Stylism. Both The Style Page and Stylism were pleased with the results of our promotion.

Stylism features designers such as Ayala Bar, Ben-Amun, Extasia, Liz Palacios, R.J. Graziano, and Sorrelli. While Chanukah is less than a week away, wouldn't these embellished menorahs by Michal Golan look great on the table?


Menorahs from Michal Golan

To take advantage of this offer, visit Stylism and enter coupon code SANTA upon checkout. This offer is good through December 10, 2007.

Big MAC Attack

I hate crests and emblems. It’s probably because I dislike Juicy Couture. I don’t like its gaudy accessories with their insignia, and frankly, its velour tracksuits with the word “Juicy” emblazoned on the butt are tacky. Who wants to see (as I did) someone’s muffin top above a waistband with the word “Juicy” on it?


MAC Royal Assets holiday collection
6 Warm Eyes eye shadow palette

Still, I couldn’t resist buying this eye shadow palette 6 Warm Eyes from MAC’s Royal Assets limited edition holiday collection. The packaging features a white cover accented in gold with a crest in relief. The casing is made of metal, which provides some heft to the package, and has an authentic vintage look.

Makeup artist and blogger Elke von Freudenburg describes the shades in 6 Warm Eyes as “Golden leaf gold, pale shimmer peach, rich forest green, deep burgundy and rich earth brown.” There is also a matte tan with some pink undertones. The description on MAC’s web site has no relation to what’s in the palette.

Still, Elke didn’t describe the finishes. The shade that she describes as “rich forest green” has shimmer and looks like greenish gunmetal when applied. The deep burgundy is shiny. The rich earth brown shade (bottom row, right), which is matte, coordinates easily with the with the pale peach shimmer (top row, L), the matte tan (top row, R), and golden leaft gold (middle row, L). Coordinating the burgundy (middle row, R) and forest green (bottom row, R) shades with the other shades is more challenging (I prefer tonal shades). The burgundy and forest green shades probably would best used for the crease or outer corner of the eye.

I'll defer judgment on this palette until I'm able to experiment with all shades, including the burgundy and forest green shades.