Monday, February 28, 2011

First iPod Touch Post




Hey girlies,

I am getting down with my bad technological self.

And drinking Aranciata soda in Williamsburg. And moving to a palatial apartment with a sprawling garden tomorrow.

And I bought lip gloss that smells like those marshmallow Peeps. It even has a birdy-shaped container. Expect a full post soon!


xoxo,
Charlotte

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Spring Picks: Tales From Barneys New York's First Beauty Blogger Meet-Up

Continued From Yesterday's Post...

Well, after glorying in expert Jason Ascher's encyclopedic knowledge of skin care and fragrance products, I thought you might want to know his must-have makeup picks.

If you missed my article on Friday, Jason is Barneys New York's resident "beauty guru." He is responsible for making many beautiful and powerful women across the city look their best every day. What's amazing about Jason though is that he isn't a slave to makeup trends. On the contrary, he is obsessed with finding what looks mega-great on real women.

Here is a quick round-up of some of his favorite spring makeup products and quick tips:

Lipstick Queen Jean Queen lip gloss:  This perfect shade isn't too shiny or sticky, and it works on almost every skin tone.

Nars Petit Monstre lipstick: Another shade that looks splendid on nearly every woman. This new lipstick from Nars has a shimmery copper look. After testing this on my hand, it has set my imagination spinning, and I would love to wear it in the evening with a taupe dress...or when the weather warms up, you could wear this lipstick when going swimming. (Bathing beauties need lipstick too!)

Nars Douceur blush: "It looks like yoga cheeks," says Ascher.

Bobbi Brown brow fix in mahogany: "It gives you perfect brows."

On tinted moisturizer: Jason Ascher is obsessed with natural, neutral makeup, so he prefers tinted moisturizer above all. "I've talked most of my clients down from foundation," he says. Quite an influencer!

On what to do with that one extremely bright color in the eye makeup compact: He says that you can use an unusual teal or other similarly bold eye shadow colors as an accent. So instead of covering your entire eyelid with a bright blue eye shadow shade, just add a touch to the corner of your eye, or try using it as a liner!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Spring Picks: Barneys Beauty Guru Jason Ascher Tells All

As the resident Beauty Guru at Barneys New York, makeup artist Jason Ascher helps some of the most powerful young women in New York get gorgeous.

Need the best lipstick? A serum that will make your skin glow like no other? Just ask Jason.

Earlier this week in the Penthouse at Barneys on Madison Avenue, he shared a selection of his faves with a host of beauty bloggers, who were veritably swanning about in all their finery and tapping away like Fred Astaire on their iPhones.

Here are a few of Ascher's favorite beauty products for spring:

In the category of fragrance, Ascher recommended two rose scents, Frederic Malle's Carnal Flower and Le Labo Tubereuse. These fragrances are so interesting and wildly different that you would hardly know they were based on the same plant. Carnal Flower is a warm oriental perfume. I find this scent to be both personal and adventurous. Meanwhile, Le Labo Tubereuse is a sprightly, delicious scent. "The tuberose is very bright," he said of the fragrance. "It's fresh and clean." I think this second perfume would be ideal for wearing to prom or as a special birthday present.

In the skin care category, like any true beauty addict, Ascher was excited about many different products. He was crazy for Koh Gen Do's Soft Gommage Gel, which contains rosemary essential oil and crushed pearl. (Save some of those pearls for me, darling!)  Unlike many other facial scrubs, this scrub melts away dead skin cells without causing tiny scratches on your face or irritation. He explained this is because the product doesn't contain any grains. (I have a sample, and will let you know how it works on my skin too!)

He also is an advocate of this special serum by Sunday Riley called Juno. "Clients immediately love the smell," he said. Juno Transformative Lipid Serum gives skin an instant glow, and makes the rest of the job of putting on makeup much easier. And he swears by the cult fave Eve Lom cleanser in the tube form, an oil-based product that doesn't disturb the skin's natural pH balance. (Jason's skin, for the record, is quite enviable.) In addition, he touted the virtues of Sjal's orb eye contour cream, which contains caffeine to reduce puffiness.

If you can imagine, in the middle of Jason's speech to us about eye creams and magic potions, the girl blogger-ette posse were calling out questions left and right. He always had an answer! Believe me, we were drinking the "Jason kool-aid" and loving every moment.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a second installment of Ascher's tips! Learn more about his makeup picks and what makes them fa-bu!  

Air kisses,
Charlotte

DISCLOSURE: At this event, I received samples of some of these beauty products, which I was told were provided by various brands. (Expect my own reviews of these soon too.) Also, there was a raffle for a $1,000 Barneys Gift Card, which I didn't participate in because I do not accept accept items of that nature. Congrats to the lucky girl who did!

Do Tell


"As soon as she comes in, she stares at me through her lorgnette, whose gold handle is linked by a small chain to a delicate bracelet of rubies."  

--From André Gide's journal entry on January 1, 1906, describing the Princess de Broglie. 



***


"How does it feel
To be on your own
No direction to go
Like some complete unknown
Like a rolling stone"

--Bob Dylan

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Prada Fall 2011 Collection Video

Because Prada is God.

Links I Love

Welcome to the grand internet...

1. Fragrance blog Bois de Jasmine reviews the scent Etat Libre d'Orange Rossy de Palma, named after the famous Spanish actress. If you don't know who she is, Rossy de Palma starred in Pedro Almodóvar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and was one of Jean-Paul Gaultier's muses. (He always picks the best muses!)

2. Avoid bad hair days. The Beauty Brains explains Three Ways to Fight Static Flyaway

3. My dear lady Felicia Benson of ThisThatBeauty is featured on Lucky's website in an adorable, and amazingly affordable shirtdress. You can snag her outfit at Macy's!

4. Renegade performance artist LaJohnJosephs's Twitter feed. Did I mention he can dance exactly like Madonna? Follow the leader!

XOXO,
Charlotte

Lady Gaga MAC Viva Glam Lipstick Ad

Superstar Lady Gaga works it in this new video for MAC. It's giving me chills...