Wishing You a Happy, Safe & Aware New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is a lot like camping. The journey may be long and dangerous, so you're better off carrying provisions.



First and foremost, bring a bottle of water and a snack in your purse as well. When the clock strikes one or two o'clock and you're still out, you'll be hungry, and a healthy Clif bar or something like these Michel Cluizel mushroom-shaped chocolates (Les Champignons) will help past midnight.

Bring a small kit of the products you normally use, that way if you or your girlfriend is in a pinch, rain or snow thunders down upon your face, or any other unforeseen obstacles appear, you will be way prepared. Hypothetically, you are a Russian princess and must carry some teeny, tiny fabulous Swaworski-crystal encrusted purse, so we feel you too. Scrape your lipstick and gloss into something like this credit-card sized 5" makeup palette.

Last but not least, be yourself or a mermaid. Be careful. People love you every night of the year. Have fun! Today is the last day to enter our deluxe New Year's Giveaway!!!!! (Click here to check out the hot black market goods.)

Can't Get Enough....

Champagne manufacturers stole the thought bubble out of our head. According to Reuters today, pink champagne is the "it" drink for New Year's Eve. How Jem and the Holograms is that? These superlative patterned stockings ($20, Look from London in Warbler) and a coat of pink lipgloss might make a match.

Click on the x's and o's to learn about our special new year's contest, xoxoxox. Hearts to you and you.

Eye Do

They won't call you shy with eyes like these. Lash out with Shu Umera's Tokyo Lash Bar collection ($50, pair).

Buy it: Shu Umera.

We Wink for Cute Cassettes

There's a new cool mix tape project at http://www.myspace.com/mixtapeproject. The membership fee is $10. Or just e-mail international.mixtape.project@gmail.com with the subject line "JOIN" and they'll give you the lo-down.

Day After Xmas Tip: Be a Mermaid

If you're living off of eggnog, we must say that pretty faces prefer agua. Double up Evian face spray ($10.75) with a glass of Evian and avoid winter dehydration.

Buy it: Sephora.

If You're Hoofing It...$25 and Under Gifts

See our hand-picked best last-minute holiday gifts! And don't forget to sign up for Eyeshadow Government's special New Year's contest. See details below.

1. Colour Surge Butter Shine™ Lipstick Palette ($25) by Clinique. Buy it: Macy's.

2. Best of Korres kit ($25) Set includes Basil Lemon Showergel (1.7 oz.), Guava Body Butter (1.7 oz.), Wild Rose 24-Hour Moisturiser SPF 6 (0.34 oz.) and Yogurt Cooling Gel Sachet (0.3 oz.). Buy it: Select Nordstrom, Whole Foods and Sephora retailers.

3. The James Bond-inspired Clarins Forever Diamonds Sparkling Eye Pencil ($24). A diamond-encrusted barrette for party hair, and the slim silver stick doubles as an eye pencil. Buy it: Macy's.

4. Too Faced Glamour to Go ($18). Buy it: Nordstrom.

5. Ole Henrikson Fresh Lips ($15). Lisa Kudrow & Linda Evangelista like it. Buy it: Sephora.

6. Mistral Shea Butter soap gift set ($14) in Verbena, Lavender, Melon pear. Buy it: Anthropologie.

7. Aromatherapy Ylang Rose Body Wash ($13). Buy it Bath and Bodyworks.

8. Stella McCartney Eau de Parfum Roll-On Perfume ($10), a rose and amber miniature. Buy it: Sephora.

9. Oiseau lip balm ($8) in Sweetheart Berry & Emollient Vanilla. Buy it: Anthropologie.

10. Revlon Illuminance Creme Shadow palettes ($6). Buy it: most drugstores.

Hi!

Personal information will not be sold, rented, or otherwise distributed to other folks.

The Sands of Time, Bare Minerals Foundation Help from Wizards, and Courtney Love

After smearing a layer of Bare Minerals foundation en route to the company holiday party, I stopped cold in my tracks and knew I could not take another step looking as matte as unglazed pottery. The Government endorses rations of the i.d. Bare Minerals product line but until today, we just didn't know how to paint it on.

In a state of utter matte-ification, I called upon the resident cosmetics wizard to remove my shoddy craftwomanship from my face.

Listen carefully girls because these are life lessons. Two words for ya: three layers. It is tempting to use the signature "tap and buff" technique encouraged by the Bare Minerals philosophy without considering the wisdom of the sands of time.

1. If you are seeking more coverage than a tinted moisturizer, simply tap a very slight amount of mineral foundation into the cap of the foundation container.
2. When applying Bare Minerals foundation, the wizard says, "Use less than you think you will need."
3. After dipping the brush in the powder, tapping the brush prevents globs of powder from setting on the face.
4. Once the first thin layer is applied by buffing the face evenly, apply one more layer.
5. And then apply one more layer.
6. And then another, for three layers.
I went from looking like a pottery project gone awry to damn sexy. (By the way, thank you.)

Aucoin (RIP) Beauty note: When Courtney Love appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone in an annual Women in Rock issue, the famed makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin applied no less than seven layers of foundation to her for the photo shoot.

Skin Deals

We're on the third night of Hannukah, and a week and counting to Christmas, so here's a few deals for thrifty gals.

Today is the final day: 25% off all non-sale items at AZALEA boutique online this weekend with the coupon code, "holiday." Check out the Skyn Iceland detox kit (Sale price, $33.75), a chip off the polar icecap.

Chilly just thinking about it?
25% off purchases, cashmere sweaters and the like, at Suedebox with the code, SUEDECANDY. Source: DailyCandy

Need to dress up those frumpy sweaters?
Finger-friendly designer accessories, Kenneth Jay Lane, etc. 30% off all non-sale items at Max and Chloe. with the code, DCMC12. Source: DailyCandy

Free shipping on orders of $75.00 or more at Kiehl's with the code, express. Their special edition Cherry-Almond lotion seems very festive. Offer expires 12/19/06.


For a pound of cherry-scented flesh, this weekend KRS is giving away a free Bikini Kill tape with all online orders of Bikini Kill CDs...Why not?

Turn Heads in Red

Pair Kate Spade strawberry-hued sunglasses with a coat of Strawberry Kiss My Face Organic Lip Balm SPF 15.

Buy it: Sunglasses, Kate Spade; Kiss My Face Organic Lip Balm SPF 15, www.drugstore.com.

Product Alert: Heavenly Scent

Speaking of divine, I just sprayed myself with Pure & Petal hair fragrance in Linden Blossom. Purely sweet and airy, my Saturday morning is already delightful.

Pure & Petal Hair Fragrances, concocted by a Canadian perfumer, is available online at Pure & Petal.

Lipsticks Pretty Enough to Eat

“Oh, it’s Foolish Virgin,” said the cosmetics mistress at Sephora and giggled, while showing me this fab Vincent Longo Lipstain. “This other one is Fig [Laura Mercier Lipstick, $20].”

Personally, we don’t give a fig about foolish virgins or bathing in Rose Soap [Weleda, $15]. But there’s room in our Government-issued Beauty Cabinet for all three.


[Pictured from top to bottom, Vincent Longo Lipstain SFP 10 in Foolish Virgin, Weleda Rose Soap, and Laura Mercier Lipstick in Fig.]

Also, on our Holiday Must-List: Warm toast with ricotta and fig jam spread, and the gentlest Snow Powder Blouse [$328, Anthropologie].

Not Your Cup of Tea

For a boost, try soaking a washcloth in a cup of green tea. Apply to face for 2 to 5 minutes. Winter skin enjoys the antioxidants in green tea as much as you do.

Get it: Mighty Leaf Tea Tropical Green Tea at Whole Foods, Budding Flower Tea at Dean & Deluca, or Celestial Seasonings Authentic Green Tea.

BeautyFlash: Nanette Lepore Yard Sale & Brooklyn-ish Perfume

The creative director of Nanette Lepore is cleaning out her closet and selling her personal items at the Park Slope flea market today in Brooklyn. I bought a jacket and she gave me the cashmere sweater for free.

Also, down the street, nose your way into Back to the Land grocery store where they stock charming glass miniatures of Violet Water created by the locals at Herbal Alchemy Apothecary.

Glow That Be Ill: Revlon Skinlights Diffusing Tint Foundation

While I was just about to give into obsolescence and ashen looks, along came Revlon Skinlights Diffusing Tint foundation to give me that palsied, feverish complexion.

For the women of the world who consume nutrients according to the food pyramid, and not the periodic table or like whatever indefinite shelf life canned substance is lying about....maybe this makeup will give you a healthy glow instead of a fevered glow.

Applied straight, without blush, I look like I'm pushing the mercury.....spiritually clinging to flannel blankets of some mildewed infirmary.

Skinlights is a lifesaver if I ever have to leave work early because I just don't want to be there.

After applying Revlon Skinlights for the day, my boss said: "You don't look very well. Maybe you should just...go home." All we have to say about this product is, w-o-w.

Pretty Girls on Other Websites

Oh, disdain.....

Although good judgment would demand that you sit here for at least five more minutes, there lies an excellent slideshow about makeup application in the PrettyGirl section of ElleGirl.com.


Don't pout! Come back when you're more beautiful. Update: this slideshow is no longer available.

In its stead, ElleGirl has rolled out a clever Marie Antoinette-inspired makeup article. For the haters of Marie Antoinette , there is always Slate.
And La Mer Miraculous Collection Holiday Set, retailing $2,200 smackeroos at Neiman Marcus.

U.S. Open Weekend by Necessity (Shout Out to Queens, yo!)

Max Factor 2000 Calorie Waterproof Mascara

When I Interview the New York Dolls....

Like this really lucky guy, John Kosik of the Associated Press, I am painting myself with Sugar's economy-sized Platinum Body Shimmer Powder. Men are like raccoons and I have found it takes very little to impress them. What's more, it's better to be prepared with weaponry if they should advance too quickly, in which case a compact larger than my apartment is as good as mace.

Beyond Beautiful: Jack Black to Host MTV VMAs

Just when you thought our superficial world was ready to pluck out all the extra
follicles that make life worthwhile, MTV responds in kind: Jack Black all grizzled

UPDATE: In his own words, "My plan is to bring the thunder. Radio City Music Hall will never be the same."

Jobs for people who hate jobs.

Hello cats and kittens and Sarah,

Underemployed Violet here! I quit my job to take another job which pays less than the first job, but gives me more time. To blog about makeup! Hahahaha, not! I also have hopes that it will not engage every single one of my neuroses simultaneously and unrelentingly! But then it wouldn't be a job, would it! It would be sleep!

!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baby Suri Revealed! (Almost)

Bitch of a teaser today at Us magazine.

Either way, Michael Kors' beauty sprint continues with a glossy leg shine-a-thon.
Because I reveal my legs to the world a little more often than baby Suri does, I unaminously endorse Michael Kors' leg shine both for myself and shut-ins like Katie Holmes.

Suit Up and Down

I don't know if steamy summer makes you nostalgic for John Steinbeck,
or if that's just my complex. Either way, I found this Steinbeck swimsuit!,
titled "Salinas." This classy number can be purchased at Bliss world,
which deserves credit for promoting Salinas all summer long.

But let's say you didn't read lots of Steinbeck books and instead
this blog is making you illiterate, that's okay too. Muffin, this swimsuit is like reading by osmosis.

Awesome Rock n' Roll New and Old Products to Love

Or should we say looooooove? It's hotter than Hades in New York,
and in such trying times, Barney's is totally our savior.


T. Leclerc Compact Foundation ($47.50, Barney's, eluxury.com)
Personal Number: #2

It's a good thing I submitted to the hefty price tag for
T. Leclerc, shade #2 T. Leclerc Compact Foundation , because it perfectly matches my skintone. If you get one for yourself, you can know what it feels like to be me--superdiva-licious and perfect in every way. And bienvenue to my world, totally broke.


Whole Foods Mint Shampoo ($1.99, Whole Foods)

Wash your hair with the Whole Foods 365 brand Mint shampoo, and even throw it on your face. Chemical-free and paraben-free, this organic shampoo smells as delicious as a cup of fresh mint tea with a teaspoon of honey. It makes me feel like I'm in Marrakech without any of that jetlag. Therefore, moi pronounces it, "lovely."

Over here, Charlotte and I often headbutt each other for fun. Zizou can join us any time he likes.

Eyeshadow Eye-con: Pirates of the Carribbean

Since this is a blog about makeup, it only makes sense to devote a little time to the person unto which I slather my face with makeup for each day. This person being, namely, Johnny Depp.

Spuming water and Johnny Depp-crazy, I went to see this last night and it was worth every last penny I slaved to earn while working for some godforsaken wench (thank god, no cameo for her in this movie). Otherwise, the Pirates of the Carribbean is above and beyond the most spume-worthy movie of the summer. What with all the beards, powdered wigs and sea chanteys, you almost forget that Keira Knightley is so charming, it's unfair, and Johnny Depp is married. Arrrgh!

But how do you achieve that lovely Keira Knightley tan all over your body?

Without a seafarring life, we recommend Model Co's Airbrush Tan in a Can. As efficient as its name, Model Co, which we admire for its close counterpart Models Inc.. (an epic yet short-lived Aaron Spelling series about beautiful women, RIP), is really, really easy to apply. I know this because I sprayed it on myself in the back of Sephora. And the color is believable.

And what kohl is in store to enhance your eyes in such a way that Johnny Depp might take notice of yer wenchly visage?

1. Awesomely dangerous kohl: Guerlain Paris loose kohl powder in a golden vial.

2. The fool-proof kohl: Tout Beau - Sharp Eyes Kohl Pen & Concealer It comes with concealer for under-eyes and black booboos.

You can repay us for this news service by delivering Johnny Depp (now).

I don't need makeup right now, the natural glow I get from France (with help from my OTHER husband, Zinedine Zidane) winning against Brazil makes me so beautiful you can't imagine.

Um, and funny story, ACTUALLY, I spent the afternoon at a wedding between a French gal and a Brazilian fella, and the game was going on and it was pretty tense, and then France won, and during her toast, the mother-of-the-bride was like, HAHAHA WE WON HAHAHA and that was pretty much the toast. I bet the kids getting married were really psyched that was how things worked out.

The Ballad of Pasty Jack

Hey lambchops! Happy summer! To celebrate, I have been getting my ass kicked by work. It's awesome. I love it.

Also, I have been sweating a lot, and getting sunburned. Which allows me to introduce what I believe will be a regular theme on Eyeshadow Government in coming months, Stuff That Has Something To Do With Sun and/or Heat, At Least In My Mind.

First up, Dallas powder blush/bronzer, by the Venerable Benefit. I am so pale that I can't even use self-tanner, because it just turns greenish on my blue skin. So it's all about taking it one day at for me, with bronzers and whatall. Except I'm so pale I can't even use a lot of bronzers.

I'm so pale, my ass has its own zipcode. IN PALETOWN. No? Lost you? Ok.

Dallas is actually a pretty nifty solution to the pale problem for me, because it's not orangey, or even brown, it's a nice plummy color with the subtlest gold flecks. It reminds me of the pretty striated stone in the Painted Desert, which is nowhere near Dallas, but whatever. Somehow, it manages to look like the color I would get if I ever actually got color, as opposed to the color I would get if I stole someone else's skin. Which, you know, gross.

More soon, including WHY CAN'T I JUST BE PALE AND LOVE IT?

More mascara is sold on Father's Day than on any other day of the year.

Paging Sheila Jeffreys.

Aside from her film career, Marlene played the saw and PUT WAX IN HER EYE.

Boy, the Sephora ladies sure have the inside dirt on those Golden Era movie stars. Who knew! I was in last week-ish to buy a nice, brightening inside-the-eye liner because I'm tired of only drawing on the outside of my eyelids.

Eventually, I settled on the soft pencil/highlighter combo of Tarte's Rest Assured Brightening Wand, reviewed by The Addict here. For the record, I like it a bit better than she does, but it hasn't changed my life.

Anyway, as I was paying for it, the Awesome Queen of Trivia behind the counter asked me "Do you know how Marlene Dietrich got this effect?" I didn't. "What she did," AQofT explained, "was she put some melted wax on a bobby pin, and applied that to her inner lid."

And do you know how cavewomen did it? They just pounded themselves in the eye with rocks. Excelsior!

after the test

- Missha... or Miss Ha? I'm not sure.

- Something that I learned about Marlene Dietrich.

- Pondering why I would even try to approximate a tan on my skin when all of nature cries out so loudly against it.

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Exam for a Kind of Professional School Monday.

If five children, Adelbert, Brendan, Cillan, Duane and Ebisu and three adults, Manuel, Nori and Olu have to fit on to three boats, one of which is a schooner, one of which is a skiff and one of which is a rickety pirate ship...

That kind of stuff. But the answer is always JUSTICE.

The Makeup in France Falls Mainly on My Face.

So this article (which will probably have been retracted back behind the drawbridge by the time you click, but don't worry I'll reproduce relevant parts here) talks about how French women wear less or more subtle makeup than American women.

True? Sure. Why not. Whatever.

An example of silly France-baiting and really bad sociology*? Uh, yeah. (eg. "Certainly, the French delight in defining themselves in opposition to America, no matter what the topic — food, wine, diplomacy, even beauty. But this attitude is complicated — a blend of chauvinism and fascination, perhaps with a touch of envy. The French admire the Americans, even as they criticize and dismiss them." Boy, between not wearing makeup and secretly admiring America, they sure sound busy over there! How do they find time to eat them snails, even with those 35 hour work weeks?!)

But, ok, it brought up an interesting point for me. I've gotten to thinking about France and America and all that quite a bit lately, as Manpants is in fact, le Manpants. I've got a whole French family I'm very fond of, and watching cultures intersect close up is a lot of fodder for thought, especially when the two cultures are so weirdly intertwined.

And so I guess what is interesting to me about this article is that it aligns with my perception that often, to the French, one's appearance has a real moral component.

Here, if it occured to us to say anything, we might make fun of a woman wearing too much makeup, but we don't think that hard about it. I don't think many people would invoke the idea of actual DECEPTION, and articulate their objection the way a 22 year old nurse in the article did: "American girls worship the cult of the 'ideal woman. No part of the face seems to be forgotten. And when you use too much makeup, it means you are hiding from yourself."

Anyway, this is a fledgling impression. On the one hand, I feel like invoking morality in makeup just another way to give women a hard time. On the other... well, gosh, I think expecting women to wear and buy ton of makeup without thinking to hard about why and if they want it is a way to give women a hard time. So. No one wins this round.


*EVERY SINGLE US PAPER'S coverage of the student protests used them as an excuse to be really strangely smug. It was like, since something vaguely approximating free-market capitalism has worked sort of okay-ish I guess in the US, France fails to the extent that it deviates from that. There was like zero comprehension that this was another country with, like, its own history and economic traditions. FAR OUT!

Happy Nice Out No Work Monday!

I am on my porch with my dog and my beer. I recommend it.

Coming Soon:

+Maybe something thoughtful in response to the dumb article in the Times about the disparate makeup styles of French and American women, if I can stop being angry and holding the entire country accountable for the French tv guys talking shit about Lordi at Eurovision . Expand the "insulting comments from the hosts!" window. I especially like the totally casual racism at the end. Whatever, the Arockalypse will soon be upon us, and THEN we'll see who's spared.

+Something about inside-the-lid eyeliner.

Sk8ter Boi

Snerf. Came across this this out there on the internads. (Via Feministe.) As a former resident of the Lower East Side which, at the time at least, was World HQ for this shit, I could go on and on and on about this until skinny jeans go back out of style. I could talk about what I think this aesthetic represents, whether I think it had it's day, or whether I think it even had a day in the first place.

Instead I am going to tell you something I think is funny.

I left the Lower East soon after I met Manpants, because once I was in a couple, there was just NO POINT. The only reason for me to live there was to make out with people. That was really all. As good a reason for choosing a neighborhood as any, I guess.

I wouldn't have articulated it like that while I was there, I probably would have said "oh, there are so many things to do, and awesome young people, and really great cheese plates at every single restaurant," but now I see right through... myself, I guess. I see right through myself in the past.

So basically what I am saying is since I'm over it, it's obviously over. It's great being an arbiter of everything. So it goes for Terry Richardson, so it goes for Vice, and so on, and so on. But I'm going to make an exception for Dov Charney, not because I'm enamored of the soft-core bright-flash I've-got-her-locked-in-my-basement aesthetic, or because I feel particularly good about what he's adding to the cultural discourse, but because, as the wise Jill Murray once told me, "if you want a t-shirt that makes you look hot, you buy it from a pervert."

Magic Face.

I've talked about my love for Tarte cheekstains before, but i really have to rhapsodize about the brand new one, Cloud 9. MWAH MWAH MWAH. I was sure it was going to turn out to be a huge mistake when I bought it. Something told me to OWN IT, though, even though it was just so... purple. And purple never looks good on skin. Except it's not really purple, it's a kind of cool rich pink when you put it on, with a tiny bit of sheen - not shimmer, though, definitely not shimmer. It's also a GODSEND for someone like me who's prone to turing bright red if she encounters so much as a bit of dust or goes out in the sun for two seconds - it actually neutralizes the weird tomato color somehow. Magic. It's magic. I have magic face. I love it. And it is all nice and creamy and blendy and it makes great lipstain too. I can't wait to blow everone's mind with my awesome face.

Also, further evidence that I was right about there being a pervert convention in town, I went to Barnes and Nobles to study today, and got a coffee at the cafe, and sat down at the counter only to realize that the guys on BOTH SIDES of me were looking at porn. Hotttt. Guess that's what I get for not supporting my local independent bookstore.