Erin Go Bragh

Wow! Talk about serendipity!

I discovered this bed set from Luxury Lab Linens today via roxi on This Next, the day before St. Pat's.

Check out the claddagh rings on the shams! (via roxi)

Lip tips

After posting Great drugstore finds, I realized that I needed to revise my advice on lips on The Style Page website.

Concerning lipliner that it is not obvious, I had written:

• Another solution is to line the lips using a lip brush with the color you intend to apply: this is especially useful for applying highly pigmented matte lipsticks. [This advice originally came from Bobbi Brown]
  

• ArtDeco, a cosmetics company from Germany, offers a Color & Contour Lip Duo, which features lipstick at one end and contour at the other end for lining the tips. This is a highly pigmented lip color, so blending is still necessary.

Now I think that both techniques result in an overly obvious line, which is why I now prefer clear lipliners or lipliners that perfectly match the color of one's lips (which is why MAC's Lip Pencil in Spice has been so popular).

I've since discovered that companies other than Revlon and Paula's Choice offer clear lipliners, but at a higher price: DuWop Reverse Lip Liner and CARGO The Reverse Lipliner.

Living Beauty by Bobbi Brown

as seen in the March 15, 2007 edition of USA Today.

Lastly, the March issue of InStyle featured an excerpt from Bobbi Brown's latest book Living Beauty. Bobbi Brown wrote that the most flattering lip color is two shades darker than the natural color of your lips. I can vouch for her advice, after a lot of experimentation (and a lot of money spent!). One also has to take her complexion, hair color, and clothes in account when selecting lip color.

I'm light to medium in complexion, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. While I had been classified as a "Winter" (using the seasonal color typing that was so popular in the 80s), I tend to favor rich warm colors over cool colors. Some of my favorite lipsticks are Bourbon from last year's limited edition Catherine Deneuve color collection from MAC and Bésame's Enchanting Lipstick in Chocolate Kiss, particularly when wearing brown. In fact, I favor lip colors that are "ambiguous," that is, not too cool, not too warm.

Another tip is to apply lip color just slightly inside your mouth (I would name the source of this tip if I could recall it) so that there won't be any apparent demarcation lines; also, this application suggests fuller lips.

Get ready for spring - 15% off from Skirt Spot

The Style Page is pleased to announce a 15% discount on orders from Skirt Spot, formerly Boutique Ooh La La, for its readers. Browse Skirt Spot's large collection of feminine skirts with details such as yokes, ribbon trim, ties, contrast hems, and more. This is a great opportunity to build your spring-to-summer wardrobe and also to get ready for Easter.

To take advantage of Skirt Spot's 15% discount, enter code sp0307 (case-sensitive) in the box for Coupon or Gift Certificate on Skirt Spot's web site. This offer is available only for a limited time - the last day to take advantage of it is March 22, 2007.

Changes to The Style Page blog sidebar

I had to customize the layout of The Style Page blog to automatically load the Flash widget for ThisNext. However, customizing the layout meant that many of the elements (Subscribe, Shopping, Blog archive, and Blogroll) in the sidebar were lost, and I had to reconstruct the elements.

I've also added a "Rate this blog" feature and a BlogExplosion button.

If there are any other news readers I should add under Subscribe, please contact me at thestylepage [at] yahoo.com.

I've been using My Web from Yahoo! to provide links to newly discovered web sites. You can find the five most recent links under My Web Bookmarks on the left-hand sidebar. By selecting "My Web 2.0 Links," you will be directed to all bookmarks I've collected since the last update of The Style Page web site - it is simply too laborious to update the static HTML pages anymore.

Pai skin care

Pai is a new skin care brand from the UK (via New Zealand) that uses natural ingredients such as chamomile and rosehip in this lotion. Other faves from Pai include the Bergamot Lip Balm.

Pai was developed by Sarah Brown, who had suffered from skin rashes and itching and decided to create her own plant-based skin care line.

Pai is available only in UK, but plans to expand internationally later this year. For more information about Pai and its products, visit Pai's web site at www.paiskincare.com.

UPDATE 11:36 PM
Sarah writes, "I've had a few enquiries from the US over the past month or so, so am planning to get my an international orders function set-up on the site over the next few weeks."

The triumph of marketing over all else

Here are a couple of products that represent the triumph of marketing over anything else:


Stila Smoky Eyes Palette

This $40 compact embeds a one-minute recording explaining how to create the smoky eye look - with named Stila brushes. In other words, you're paying $40 for advertising, the same reason I find logo tees so stupid.


Cargo Daily Gloss

Cargo Daily Gloss is an example of making money from a product that had previously been given away free - Mary Kay and Merle Norman provided blister packs as a hygeinic means for customers to test lip colors. Similarly, CARGO's ColorCards™, upon which eyeshadow color has been embossed, is yet another means of commercializing what had been given away for free.

Introducing 29 Cosmetics

Winter Collection from 29 Cosmetics

I spoke by phone with Lydia Mondavi of 29 Cosmetics while she was on the floor of Neiman Marcus in San Francisco for the promotional launch of 29 Cosmetics, her new color line formulated with grape seed extract (“29” refers to Route 29 in Napa Valley, the premier wine country in the U.S.). The line only debuted at Neiman Marcus on February 16.

Lydia is originally from Atlanta and is a fifth-generation Atlantan. She developed skin care lines for spas all around the world. The spas were interested in color cosmetics with benefits for the skin.

Lydia met Robert Mondavi, a scion of the Mondavi wine-making family, through a grade school friend who is now a chef in Napa. Lydia and Robert married soon after, and now have been married for five years.

Robert is the vintner for both Spellbound and Medusa wineries. While Spellbound specializes in wines at $15 a bottle (the Petite Sirah is their flagship brand, the first of its kind in Napa Valley), Medusa is a boutique label with wines at $38 a bottle.

All products in the 29 Cosmetics color line are formulated with grape seed extract. Grape seed extract is a powerful anti-oxidant, and as Lydia noted, is a by-product of the wine-making process.

29 Cosmetics will expand into skin care. This raised the inevitable question about competition with Caudalie, the skin care line in which the products are formulated with grape extract. Lydia said that the people who run Caudalie are dear friends, and 29 Cosmetics’ skin care products would not compete directly with Caudalie’s skin care range.

Check out the sophisticated shades of 29 Cosmetics at its website www.29cosmetics.com. Names for the product colors and palettes were inspired by wine and areas in and around Napa Valley. Special products include lip treatments (see photo above) and Napa Mist. All products are formulated, manufactured and packaged in Milan, Italy.

You may buy 29 Cosmetics on its web site, or at 29 Color on Neiman Marcus’s web site, beginning February 20. 29 Cosmetics is exclusive to Neiman Marcus, and will be rolled out in NM stores in LA, Chicago, Palm Springs, Atlanta, and Las Vegas this spring. It might eventually come to Washington, DC (where I live!) and King of Prussia, PA.

Catch-up from The Style Page

I have had a busy time since Christmas. We visited my folks for Christmas, and then we went to India to visit with my in-laws. I shopped while in India, and stocked up on kurtas and bedding and pillow covers. Our departure was delayed by three days because my husband got sick the day we were supposed to leave. Once we got back home, I had less than 24 hours to get ready for my departure for school. Since that time, I've rescoped my research paper.

I've collected a lot of new cosmetics links since I last updated the popular Cosmetics page on The Style Page web site. You can guess that I haven't had much time to update the page, so I've added a badge on the Cosmetics page to show the new links.

Here's some news from my friends:

• Jackie Cawthra informed me that the Belen Echandia web site has been re-designed. She's really pleased with the new design. In addition, she's studying psychology, and remarks, "It is great to have some intellectual work as well as the creative and business things I do."

• Sharon Bolton told me that Sharon Bolton Scents has a new Web site address: http://www.sharonboltonscents.com.
  

Australian Beauty

After our articles on Asian beauty and Canadian Beauty, here's an article from The Age (Australia) about Australian niche beauty brands, including Aesop, Bloom, Natio, Mecca Cosmetica, Li'Tya, Mor, Glamourflage, and Red Tea Natural Skin Therapy:

Lifting the lidThere's a lot more to make-up than meets the eye, writes Melinda Houston.

The article also mentions that Poppy King, who had the eponymous lip color line Poppy and later joined Prescriptives, has a new venture Lipstick Queen.

And let's not forget about Becca, Sue Devitt Studio, and Di Kennedy Studio Colour! Are there any that I missed?

Best wishes for the Holidays

Dear friends,

I will be leaving for St. Louis tomorrow to be with my parents for Christmas. After that, my husband and I will be traveling to India, where we will welcome the New Year (thanks to the multiplicity of calendars in India, there are several New Years, and more opportunities to create or renew New Year resolutions :-)

All this activity will leave me precious little time to blog. To everyone who stops by and visits The Style Page, best wishes for holidays and for a happy, prosperous, and peaceful New Year!

Julie