Bobbi Brown Almost Bare Perfume and Dresses in Every Color

It takes a lot to get me to trill over a perfume, but I've really been appreciating my sample of Bobbi Brown's fragrance, Almost Bare. The perfume is a feminine, light bouquet. The blend of bergamot and jasmine notes are relaxing in mood, and never too girlish. This perfume is just right for a weekend, a June bridal shower, or even a nice lunch.
While we're at it, here are a few, cute lightweight numbers to hop around town in....

Dresses (from top left, clockwise): Oscar de la Renta Taffeta Embroidered Dress ($5,990, Net-a-porter), Vanessa Bruno Knot-Front Dress ($449, Net-a-porter), Lela Rose Taffeta Tank Dress ($625, Net-a-porter), Marni 'Fleur' print short sleeve dress ($975, www.marni.com) , Tiffany's Charm bracelet ($425 charm, $1,500 link clasp bracelet in 18K gold, Tiffany)

Air kisses,
Charlotte

Sex and the City Treasure Hunt

All the magazines have been singing, Hark Sex and the City! It took me a while to warm up to the show since it's become such a "thing." But I found out that Sarah Jessica Parker is pretty cool and old-fashioned in real life. Me too! Girlies you can laugh, but I prefer the modest cable TV version. And SJP and I have more than one thing in common.

1. I think we use the same tailor. He didn't speak much English, but I got the feeling that Miss Sarah Jessica Parker was, at least at one point in time, a customer. Her picture is hanging on the wall at the dry cleaning shop across the street from Tender Buttons on 143 E. 42nd St. (Bonus: Cross the street to buy neat enamel buttons from 19th century at Tender Buttons, and nosh on Spanish cheese from the gourmet shop next door!)


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2. Carrie and I go for drinks at the same hang-outs. On the TV show, the girls on Sex and the City go to The Coffee Shop in Union Square, which is coincidentally around the corner from my old job.



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3. I guess our similarities in lifestyle are running out since she's only, like, a millionaire....but our lives are not completely different. For example, SJP presented her clothing line Bitten last December over a private lunch at Indochine (430 Lafayette St). My new favorite drink is a prosecco-lychee cocktail which I get in Brooklyn. But Indochine serves a similar prosecco-passion fruit cocktail ($11). We're like two trains passing in the night. Sigh...

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Glamour Queens of the Day: The Marvelettes!

As a precursor to all this Sex and the City stuff, I thought it was high time to time warp to the Marvelettes and their eternal wisdom. They're way awesome at synchronized dancing and shaking tambourines too.

Diane von Furstenberg Photos Update: Love DVF's Authentic Vintage Collection

These are photos of the shoot I (and a group of other really awesome bloggers) directed. It's my first time delving this deep into the fashion world, but I credit my friends at Coutorture for dreaming up the idea.

We got to pick out dresses for the models at the DVF store downtown. The event was so much like the photo shoots you see on TV. The fashion photographer (mussed hair, sexy accent) said "beautiful" and "I love it" a lot, and every snapshot looked better than the next. This first yellow number is direct from DVF's vintage line. A Diane von Furstenberg team gal told me that the design is a true copy of one of Diane's earliest dresses.

To get the look, the makeup artist used Trish McEvoy 'Protective Shield' Moisturizing Tint SPF 15 for barely there coverage and Nars blush in Gina for a natural tangerine flush.

Buy it: DVF Vintage Yellow Wrap Dress, select DVF stores; $210 Provence Shoes in gold ($210); DVF Kalakaua Crochet Dress, sale price $270 at Saks Fifth Avenue online; Love Knot Necklace 18 karat gold ($7,600), select DVF stores. Makeup: Trish McEvoy 'Protective Shield' Moisturizing Tint SPF 15 ($40), Nordstrom, Nars blush Gina ($25), Sephora.

Sex and the City Movie Countdown

There reaches a point when idle "hype" becomes Truth. Youth is so impressionable after all, and thus...Eyeshadow Government is swept up by Sex and the City mania. The tide of articles, videos, television, and billboards has convinced me that the (splendid? trashy?) movie will be a great masterpiece of American cinema.

So three points:

1. Click to watch Vogue.TV's Behind the Scenes Sex and the City Cover Shoot right here.

2. Also, my SEXY SNEAK PREVIEW: I beg you to return next week to see my Carrie-inspired map of New York City.

3. Last but not least, if you're curious about that wild green hat SJP wore to the London premier, you can learn more about milliner Philip Treacy from this New York Times article ("I like things that exist for a moment, and that their moment is still attached to them").

Photo Credit: Sugar

A Penguin and a Beauty Tip

Skin Focus: Hydration

On most days of the week, I avoid all forms of gadgets since they just confuse me. Someone recently sent me a mascara that actually twirled itself, using an electric battery. Convinced I would poke myself in the eye with this contraption, it soon found a new home in my garbage bin (also where I store all my extra love letters!).

Anyhoo. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book Confessions of a Beauty Editor (written by the editor-ettes at Allure) recommends shopping for a humidifier to prevent flaky skin. Sure the last thing you need in Brooklyn is more humidity during the summer, but I thought those who spend these months in arid climates, maybe perched along a red canyon in Arizona, would be interested in this advice.

They say just stick the humidifier in your bedroom and let it whirl while you get your beauty zzzs. This Crane Penguin Cool Mist Humidifier is extra-sweet.

If you're sticking to the old-fashioned way, these are two moisturizers you might dig too.

Vitamin Enriched Face Base Bobbi Brown. This action-packed moisturizer, which has both shea butter with carrot extract inside, does marvels for the skin.


Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion. Personally, I have always liked this moisturizer since middle school, and this is a touch more mild than Oil of Olay.


Buy it: Crane Penguin Cool Mist Humidifer ($35), Target; Bobbi Brown Vitamin Enriched Face Base ($47), Macy's and Barneys; Clinique Dramatically Different Lotion , Sephora.

Live from the Diane von Furstenstenberg Studio

Hi chicklets,

Tonight I've been at a blogger fashion shoot at the DVF studio on W. 14th St. Some of my fellow beauty and fashion bloggers from Coutorture decked themselves out in the new Diane von Furstenberg collection--very fresh and light. She's such a New York icon.

At the last minute, I decided to send out an extra-leggy model with perfect hair for the shoot instead of a not-so-leggy, very frizzy me. Anyhow you will see pictures of the model I got to dress up like a doll, and the whole behind-the-scenes scoop asap. Pronto!

Hearts forever,
Charlotte

Gotta Problem with Gossip Girl? Uh, Yeah....

So I'm a newbie to watching Gossip Girl, and the recent plot twist on la G.G. irked moi.

All these straight guys and girls have been outing gay guys on latest episodes. What the hell? Not only is this not cool, it's also an incredibly dangerous activity when you're in high school. Especially in less tolerant parts.

Don't get me wrong. Gay men are very squeezable and huggable. But in areas that are less tolerant and open-minded, especially when there are angry adolescent boys who often have both violent and homophobic tendencies, outing someone could place this most wonderful gay person in a really unsafe situation.

Even in Manhattan, and I know the show has gay writers, homosexual folks are attacked on the streets for their personal choices. It's okay to come out of the closet. It is. But every gay man should decide for himself and gauge carefully whether they are in a situation where it's safe to be out in the open.

Recently, a young gay teenager was killed after expressing a crush on another male classmate. Also, a queer female friend once got a glass bottle thrown at her for kissing a girl in high school.

Because of these kind of situations, it's really messed up for straight teens to out gay peers. One person's decision to come out of the closet shouldn't be made by anyone else.

Pls fwd to Gossip Girl: so not LOL.

Happy Birthday To Me

Dear amigas,

I guess I took a vow of silence on beauty product commenting/verb-ation/chatter for the weeks preceding my birthday, but that was kinda a mistake. Now that I'm "72" backwards, I feel like I need to make up (ouch, bad pun) for all the lost time with even more frolicsome activities and scandalous times. Why should all the people on Gossip Girl get all the fun?

Thank goodness for rhetorical questions that I can answer. They don't!

My latest obsession isn't lipstick, but surfing. Any trend that spurs the mass production of bikinis, keeps you glued permanently to the beach, and incites all manner of fun kookiness--i.e., Brian Wilson, helloooo--is my kind of sport.

Also, girls shred at surfing. Girls are always the best.

But what about you landlocked ladies? I'm thinking of you too. And well, this is one step in the right direction. Philosophy has unleashed a special Surfer Girl set. The scent of tropical papaya, kiwi and sugar cane moisturizer helps everyone feel beachy keen, even in Kansas.




I'm also way psyched about the new limited Christopher Kane-designed Lancome Juicy Tubes lip glosses. That was a mouthful, but these tend to land lightly on the lips.




Buy it: Surfer Girl Set by Philosophy ($35) and Juicy Tubes Lip Gloss ($18) by Lancome, Sephora.