Jack & Hill: A Beauty Blog - make-up, cosmetics, perfume, and the substance of style

Quote of the day

To claim that girls and women want to look like blonde bombshells because of the billboards, movies, TV shows, music videos, and magazine advertisements makes as little sense as to claim that people become hungry because they are bombarded with images of food in the media. If only the media would stop inundating people with images of food, they would never be hungry! Women’s desire to be blonde preceded the media by centuries, if not millennia.

- Ben Casnocha, in his notes on Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters, by Alan Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa.

Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Inspired by Carmindy Airbrush Foundation

That's a lot of words for one little product. I didn't even know who Carmindy was, being far too loyal to the British original of Trinny and Susannah's What Not to Wear to tolerate the shrieky, very fake-seeming American version. It turns out that Carmindy is the makeup artist on that horrible show. And yet, she seems to have produced - with Sally Hansen - at least one very good product in a line called Natural Beauty. As the woman herself says of the collection:

I partnered with the Sally Hansen team to develop this breakthrough cosmetic line of the highest quality products at a price we can all afford. Natural Beauty is totally paraben-free and filled with natural anti-oxidants and botanicals. Each and every product works seamlessly together to deliver the flawless look and feel you have always wanted. You won't believe how fresh and light Natural Beauty is and how easy it is to apply.

She's not just spouting PR lines.

I tend to choose a tinted moisturizer with at least SPF 30 many days, which gives me sheer coverage. Sometimes I want to even out my skintone a bit more, which is when I opt for a proper foundation. Lately, I've been reaching more frequently for this one. (It offers no sun protection, so underneath I apply Neutrogena Age Shield Face with SPF 80.)

The word "airbrush" gives the sense that you'll be spraying your face with this stuff, and that it will Photoshop away all your imperfections. Instead, you spray the product into your hands, then blend it into your face. I don't know what the dispensing method has to do with why this foundation works so well, but it does. I don't feel I need much concealer (just under my eyes, to cover dark circles) when using it, yet it doesn't look cake-y or heavy.

At $13.50, I don't think you're going to find a better everyday option for foundation. (Trust me, I've shelled out many times that for the Vincent Longos of the world, and am very gunshy about returning.)

The Scarlett (Johansson)

This is the bleached blonde bob that Mrs. Ryan Reynolds is sporting in the new Mango campaign. I find it exceedingly sexy. If I could bear to have my hair touch my forehead or cheeks, I would be getting this cut today.

No, it's not far off the deceptively simple-looking cut that Sally Hershberger designed for Meg Ryan a few years ago - but then I loved that, too. But this is total JBF hair and I love it. I suspect that it would work well for women of all ages, but would work best on blondes and redheads.

What do you think?

MAC Naked Honey Body Wash

Full disclosure: MAC sends me a ton of products every month - an overwhelming, but wonderful selection of free cosmetics, skincare, and some of the most beautiful promotional artwork you've ever seen.

With that out of the way, I must tell you that their new Naked Honey Body Wash is simply the most glorious thing I've ever used in the shower. The smell is incredible - the honey melds with the scent of narcissus, jasmine, and a bit of lavender for the slightly masculine edge that I love. My only complaint is that the scent is perhaps a bit too subtle. That said, I used it during my evening shower and woke up in the morning wondering, "Hey, why do I smell so amazing?"

The entire Naked Honey collection of thirteen items includes a skin salve, a body cream, and a fragrance. I think I shall be spending some of my hard-earned ducats on a few of these products as soon as I can.

John Frieda Luminous Color Glaze

I'd read and heard so much about this product - all raves - that I just had to try it.

But first, I had to find it. I searched high and low, in every Duane Reade I passed in Manhattan, and couldn't find it. They all seemed to stock the Luminous Color Glaze Clear Shine, which does not impart any color "re-awakening" as the Luminous Color Glaze does, but I wanted the real deal. I may have gotten a bargain on my new hair color, but I was willing to spend $9.99 to keep it fresh.

Of course, I found the brunette version of Luminous Color Glaze at the CVS right around the corner from my apartment.

I've only used this once, today, and it's supposed to take three uses before a difference is apparent. You're also supposed to use it every time you wash your hair - a minimum of three times per week. (No sweat for me; while I usually try to go every other day between washes immediately following a color treatment, usually I have to shampoo daily or I just feel unclean.)

So, I'll let you know how it works out. In the meantime, what are you doing with your hair for summer - lighter, darker, highlights, shorter, or the ponytail thing? While I like my new haircut, I've been seriously considering getting it chopped down to about three inches of messy tufts. But I don't think my physical features are delicate enough to carry it off. What are your summer haircut plans and fantasies?

Maybelline The Colossus Volum' Express Mascara

Maybelline Colossus Volum'Express Mascara
Originally uploaded by dynamist.

What annoys me about this product is the marketing. This model is clearly wearing mega false lashes. Does Maybelline really think women are that dumb?

I didn't see that photo until now, when I was looking for a link to the Maybelline page. I'd heard some good buzz about this mascara, and even Nigella Lawson loves it:

[T]here's a sort of game I play with a girlfriend of mine, and we each try and trump each other with a better mascara. I was very smug about Max Factor Masterpiece, and she countered with Estee Lauder Turbolash. I thought I'd got her with L'Oreal Telescopic but she bounced back and bounced higher with her latest offering: I have to say I have yet to find a better mascara on the market than Maybelline's The Colossal Volum' Express. It delivers what its slightly comical name is driving at, and it doesn't clump.

Indeed, this product nails separation, which is hugely important to me. My lashes are naturally long (which I had no hand in), so lengthening isn't important for me. But this is a very neat formula; the anti-Great Lash, I suppose. I didn't wear it on my lower lashes - I almost always leave them bare, for reasons of neatness - but loved the effect on my upper lashes.

All this for less than $8? I think I'll be a repeat buyer of this one.

Shear Bliss

After walking in to a random threading place and getting an excellent set of new eyebrows for a measly $6, I thought it must be my lucky day. So I walked into Shear Bliss in the Murray Hill/Kips Bay area of Manhattan while walking home from a meeting and asked what the odds were of getting a cut and color right then. As it happened, they were excellent, and I'm very happy with the job Coco did for me. As a new customer, I also got a free haircut and discounted blow dry with the color, for a total of only $95.

As much as I was loving how my hair was growing so long, a) it's summer, b) the long and short layers thing was annoying the crap out of me, and c) I don't think long hair does much for me.

I mean, I'm always pulling it back to get it out of my face, and I'm too lazy to use a curling iron or straighteners on it very often, even though I tell myself, "Well, I can STYLE long hair in such pretty ways!" Except that I don't. Hair that just hangs there, looking average, is the ugliest hair of all.

I'm pretty sure this length also makes the most of my bone structure and eyes (or at least that's what lots of people tell me.) As for the color, it's a dark chocolate like I naturally had as a child. Coco informed me that my natural hair color now is not, as I have claimed for years, light brown. She said it's a dark blond. I say let's just call it mousy and leave it at that. So I especially love the darker shade I've got now, which goes best with my coloring.

What a fortunate day. Shame I didn't buy a lottery ticket.

Shear Bliss
397 3rd Ave
New York, NY 10016
(212) 213-6050

Bath & Body Works Aromatherapy Sleep - Lavender and Chamomile

For Christmas, Hillary's 17-year-old son gifted me with a stuffed black sheep (he inherited his mother's sense of humor) and a big bottle of Bath & Body Works Aromatherapy Sleep Body Wash with lavender and chamomile. My first two, ungrateful thoughts:

1) Oh, great, another bottle of freaking body wash.
2) Oh, great, lavender and chamomile. I always wanted to smell like an 85-year-old shut-in.

But I was more than pleasantly surprised when I used the wash that night before bed. I don't know about any of the claims that the formula helps induce a restful night's sleep, but I do know that it smells absolutely incredible. It's nothing like the old lady-ish scent I feared, and the lavender gives it a slight masculine edge that I love. (Beauty trivia: Prince Charles wears cologne made from the lavender he grows in his gardens at Highgrove.) 

I met with the PR rep that handles Bath & Body Works' Aromatherapy line last week, and gushed to her about how much I love this fragrance. She gave me a bottle of hand soap in the same exact scent, and I have been become even more OCD about washing my hands ever since. I'm also smelling my fingers a lot, which I'm sure would look strange if there was anyone around to watch me, but since there isn't, I will continue to be a finger sniffer.

 Now all I need is the body lotion and my life will be complete.

PS: B&BW is having a two for $20 sale on selected mix and match body care products right now, so this would be a good time to stock up.

Avon True Color Bronzer + Rock & Republic Trickery Tinted Illuminizer

I always groan when a PR sends me bronzer; it is always, without fail, way too dark for my skin. The faintest application makes it look like I've just got a dirty face. It looks cheap, fake, and embarrassing, as if having pale skin is something to be ashamed of.

That said, I do miss being tan. I grew up, until age 9, right on Lake Erie. I can't recall my parents ever applying sunblock to me. (The picture at right was taken in 1978, shortly before my second birthday. I've cropped out the Coppertone baby tan lines that resulted from me running around the beach in a diaper and bathing suit bottoms all summer long.)

After we moved away from the lake, I spent almost every day in the summer at the city pool - mostly because I had a crush on one of the lifeguards. I occasionally applied SPF 15, coconut-scented sunscreen because I didn't own perfume.

And as a teenager, I worked in a tanning salon, the only real benefit of which was unlimited free tanning.

Which is precisely why I am now so hyper-vigilant about not getting a real tan. At age 31, the wrinkle fear is here to stay. Not to mention that cancer sounds like an experience I can live without.

But sometimes I do want that fabled sunkissed glow. This week, I think I found the combination of products to give it to me:

1) Avon True Color Bronzer in Sunkissed (for which I could find no web link) excited me as soon as Avon's PR showed it to me. It doesn't even look like a bronzer, because the shade is so reasonable. As it turns out, it does give a very subtle hint of warmth, as if I've spent a day walking around the county fair with only SPF 15. No streaks, no dirty look.

2) Rock & Republic Trickery Tinted Illuminizer is excellent for adding highlights to your bronzed face, so the look is more three-dimensional. I use it at my temples, at the tops of my cheekbones, and along my upper eyelids. This product is a keeper, though I'm not sure I'd have paid $48 for it without a bit of angst. (I got mine for free from Rock & Republic's PR firm.)

What are your surefire ways to look subtly tanned without being mistaken for Brooke Hogan? Or do you just embrace your naturally pale skin, don a straw hat, and try to walk on the shady side of the street? (Advice Goddess Amy Alkon, a dear friend of both mine and Hillary's, really rocks the hottest sun protection look I've ever seen.)

A Kiehl's mea culpa from a new convert

For some reason, I thought I wasn't a Kiehl's fan, even though both Nancy and Hillary use and love many Kiehl's products. But I am attracted by the simplicity of their packaging and presentation; I feel like I'm paying for actual product, not a box or ostentatious packaging (which I have nothing against, except when it's better than what it contains).

On Friday, I spent some time with Kiehl's seemingly effortlessly beautiful PR manager for the US, Rachael Kelly. My friend Matthew and I met Rachael at the original Kiehl's store and apothecary, which the company has occupied since 1851. It's a pretty cool place, all exposed brick and Steve McQueen's old motorcycles propped up in corners.

I don't want to make this post all about Rachael, but she's a really good PR person. (Working in marketing and PR, nothing grates like an incompetent one, and few things please me as much as interacting with a PR who knows what she's doing. She's open, friendly, genuine, and doesn't recite from any script.)

We spent over an hour with her, talking products and why so many natural/organic claims are bogus, as well as about how Kiehl's puts an emphasis on SPF (their routine departs from the traditional "cleanse, tone, moisturize" and is more like "cleanse, moisturize, protect").

I've spent a bit of time testing out a few of the products she gave us - Rachael was very generous - and right now I'm wondering why it took me so long to start using their Ultra Facial Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 15. Nancy blogged about this wonderous product here nearly a year ago. I'm pretty much not in the market for another tinted moisturizer or foundation right now, thanks to this. (That's me, at right, wearing it with only a bit of powder and blush on top.)

I passed some of the samples she gave me to Matthew, so his mother and sister could test them - such as the Marvelous Mineral Mascara. Rachael was wearing this and it looked very pretty on her, but in a minimalist, barely-there way. I like a little more oomph from my mascara, so don't think it would suit me. (It is paraben-free and fragrance-free, if you're sensitive about such things.)

Both Matthew and I immediately took to the Superbly Restorative Argan Skin Salve. It helped rescue his dried, cracked cuticles without an overpowering or feminine scent; I found it very soothing on a rash I was starting to develop. It's a very solid salve, not goopy, so there's no mess when you use it.

I've got a lot more products to test, but I felt obligated to take back immediately my previously sneering attitude toward Kiehl's. These are items I'd pay for, and have no hesitation about recommending. Do you use Kiehl's products? Which ones should I buy?

Anne Hathaway at the Met Ball

How such creative people with so much money (and freebies) at their disposal manage to make such a potentially interesting, fun event so boring is beyond me. Maybe it's all the drugs?

One highlight for  me amongst the Met Ball monotony was Anne Hathaway's look. Anne is the kind of girl whom I used to find extraordinarily beautiful, like a young Nigella Lawson. Recently, I've found that she either looks very pretty or downright awkward. (As someone who tends to look very goofy indeed in candid shots, I know how annoying this can be.)

But it was great to see her working the '60s retro look - and resembling Nigella more than ever - at the Met Ball. I loved the hair, and the makeup was perfect, even if the dress was just so-so. Lancôme did Anne's makeup - here's the rundown from their PR department:

Celebrity makeup artist Leslie Lopez gave Hathaway her ultra-glamorous, ultra-dramatic look, with smokey eyes as the focal point. Leslie swept Lancôme Color Design Eyeshadow in Statuesque over the entire eyelid, dabbed Color Design Eyeshadow in Daylight on the brow bone and finished with several coats of Lancôme L'Extreme Mascara in Black. Anne’s sheer, neutral colored lipstick--Lancôme L’Absolu Rouge Lipstick in Couture Suede—was the perfect finishing touch.

Aside: Anne Hathaway was college roommates with one of my friends, who reported that there is absolutely no juicy gossip or anything weird about the actress. How tragic!

Real reasons to wear makeup... or not

poor young Madonna was so lacking in self-confidence...

Look, it doesn't bother me that Guardian journalist Julie Bindel doesn't want to wear makeup- who would waste their time having an opinion about what some other person puts on their face anyway, except perhaps to admire their look or if offering helpful advice to a friend. But why does she have to dismiss most of the female sex for our choice, and with such facile and judgemental arguments? (my bold type):

There is nothing I like about myself in makeup; in fact, I realise how much of a mask it can be for women who lack confidence. Of course, I understand why some women want to wear it - we are so scrutinised by men, and often other women, that it has become unacceptable for us to display naked faces. Every single inch of us is supposed to be plucked, coloured and hidden beneath cosmetics, or we are accused of not having made an appropriate effort. I suppose a full face of makeup on a woman helps define the difference between the sexes, making it easier for men to assert their masculinity.

Honestly, if we all went about inventing negative explanations for other people's choices without asking them, the world would be even more full of bigotry and prejudice than it is already. 

There's nothing wrong with makeup-free. Here are some great reasons why I and others often go without makeup: to give the skin a break, laziness, having an informal day, working at home, because we're beautiful au naturel too, because partners love to see us naked. All over.

And here are some great reasons for wearing makeup Ms. Bindel somehow failed to imagine: because it's fun, because we enjoy being creative with our appearance (just like anyone who has a haircut, tattoo or body-piercing, or who likes their own clothes), because we enjoy the way it makes us look and have a right to look how we want, because we want to exploit the fact that it makes us look more serious at work .

This last point does relate to others' expectations. It demonstrates that you can opt out, or you can choose to play the game and win. Although I prefer makeup as a decorative art form rather than camouflage, the latter can just as easily be a strategic power-move as a place to hide. 

Do you consider it more confident to wear makeup/ go without/ neither? To me, lack of makeup seems more likely to imply low self-esteem (not making the most of oneself), but that could be from watching too much "What Not to Wear". Has anyone actually researched this?

The beautiful truth about "natural" beauty

As of today, I'm going to be contributing weekly items on beauty to Miss Mary Rambin's new site, More Than Mary. I'm a big fan of Mary's straight-talking, dry humor, and overall spirit, and very pleased to be contributing to her new project.

Mary did a great job of editing a somewhat lengthy piece I wrote; she pulled out the meat and made a much more concise post out of what I submitted. But I thought I'd post the full item here for you guys; consider this the director's cut or something.

--

After almost half a decade of beauty blogging, I've become pretty jaded about the cosmetics industry. More to the point, being on the receiving end of so many products over the years - we're talking hundreds - has made me realize that there really are not that many stand-out performers in the crowd of overpriced, artfully packaged merchandise.

One of the recent trends that many brands have recently glommed onto in an attempt to sell in a way over-populated market is that of being "ethical". Let's just start with the "organic," and "all natural" labels usually lumped under this umbrella (which is probably made of organic, un-dyed hemp).

If the uncritical way that many women spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars on anti-aging products taught beauty marketers anything, it's that there are a lot of suckers out there.

Just as many women want to believe that a cream from Bloomie's can turn back the clock, there are plenty who ask no questions when told that the product they're buying is going to help save the planet and stick it to The Man and his evil chemicals.

Of course, much of this - as with most marketing - is pure bunk.

Let's start with the all-natural and organic claims. As a Times (London) piece pointed out four years ago, "herbal products can become toxic when they degrade," and "organic cosmetics are under-researched on efficacy as well as safety". Not to mention that many formulas marketed as "organic" may only include a single organic element. The drawbacks to organic products were summed up thusly: "Less evidence that they work; less rigorously tested; expensive; don’t last long."

Not that those natural elements are necessarily good for you to begin with, organic or not. Plenty of plant extracts and oils - such as peppermint oil, lemon oil, orange peel, eucalyptus oil, orange oil, cinnamon oil, clove oil, pine tar, alcohol, lime oil, papaya, thyme, witch hazel, and balsam peru - can cause an extremely negative reaction even in those who don't have sensitive skin. (Paula Begoun provides a very long list here.)

Compare that to an often-maligned "chemical" ingredient like propylene glycol, which is known in its undiluted form as anti-freeze. But used in the scant quantities present in skin care products, almost no one in the human population will suffer any negative to reaction to it.

As a friend of mine likes to point out, poisonous mushrooms are all-natural, and widely available in the organic variety. But you wouldn't necessarily rush to consume those.

More to the point, just because a product is genuinely all-natural (there are no existing guidelines for what constitutes an all-natural formula) or organic does not mean it will work for you.

One "all natural" line that has become hugely popular is Burt's Bees. It used to be a more obscure brand, but now you can pick it up in your local drugstore. (In fact, Burt's Bees was recently purchased by the Clorox Company, which makes sure you can buy it from Wal-Mart and any other big box store you frequent. Not that shopping in big box stores makes you a heathen, but that's another post.) Burt's Bees regularly uses ingredients such as those listed above in its products, which often cause severe adverse reactions. Another company making questionable claims about its products is Kiss My Face, which claims that its Citrus Cleanser - which contains ingredients like methylparaben, propylparaben, sodium borate, stearic acid, and the aforementioned propylene glycol - is "100% natural". (It also contains lemon oil and lime oil, which are frequently the cause of skin irritation.)

That's not to say that many all natural elements do not provide benefits for skin. But for every aloe and beeswax, there's an allspice and bergamot.

For example, I'm really loving some products recently given to me by Kiehl's which contain organic argan oil. Now, Kiehl's marketing for their "superbly restorative preparations" employs a lot of the folklore about argan oil's origins in Morocco and how it has been used for centuries to restore hair, skin, and nails. The truth is that it's no miracle product, and is as effective as plenty of other ingredients, natural and otherwise. I can ignore the marketing, because the products - my favorites are the Argan Body Cleansing Oil, Argan Skin Salve, and Argan Dry Oil - work well. They're very emollient without being greasy, don't have an overpowering, incense-esque smell, and leave my skin extremely soft. (A big bonus point from my perspective: The products are minimally packaged with all directions and ingredients printed on the labels - you just get the bottle, not a big box that will need to be recycled or thrown away.)

The bottom line: Learn about which all natural ingredients are likely to harm your skin, and read labels to find out if they're in your favorite cleverly marketed brand of products. Just as you would with other products making extravagant claims, question the marketing hype presented to you. And if you're more interested in buying all natural products that probably won't work as well as the more scientifically engineered ones, just be aware that that's what you're doing.

Essence of Beauty Walnut Whip Body Cream

Walnut Whip Mmmmmmmm!
Originally uploaded by charliebubbles.

Walnut Whip is one of my favorite classic British sweets (the vanilla variety only, thank you very much). Something about breaking the semi-hard candy shell with one's teeth and sinking into the vanilla softness within is incredibly satisfying. (Frankly, I find the walnuts on top surplus to requirements.)

So I was intrigued to come upon Essence of Beauty Walnut Whip Beauty Cream in a friend's bathroom recently. The bottle was a dead ringer for Bath and Body Works body cream, and I guessed that Essence of Beauty was some cheap knock-off brand. I was right, but I was also pleasantly surprised by the product itself. It smelled delicious - not cloyingly sweet or babyish - and left my skin softly scented.

Alas, this product that once graced the shelves of CVS pharmacies everywhere now seems to be out of circulation. Google results reveal multiple boards where people are desperately seeking replenishment, and a few people are flogging them on Craigslist.

However, with the embarrassing amount of body creams I own, I definitely don't need to buy any more. But if I did, I'd shell out for this one - if I could find it.

Boots No7's super-famous (in the UK) anti-wrinkle serum

Boots is doing a clever thing by renaming their super-popular anti-wrinkle cream in the US and selling it for less money: Americans don't care if something was a massive stampeding hit across the pond or not, and certainly won't pay over-the-odds for a product just because it has Britsploitation splashed all over it, especially now that frugal and local are both cool. But I wonder if the name-change is to camouflage the fact that what costs  £19.75 in the UK is available in the US for only $21.99 (or only £14.51, even at the current exchange rate)? The one you see here on the left is available in the US and the one on the right is the British one. Both of these are the newly-released extra-strong versions, designed for deeper wrinkles; the originals, also called Protect & Perfect or Restore & Renew but without the "intense", are still available too. Although I don't know who rates their wrinkles- surely most customers will go for the maximum possible hit and just get the new stuff? 

I've been using a sample of the old-style UK P&P for the last few days and must admit to liking it considerably. The only similar product I have tried was a discontinued Clinique serum, which was like glue; this is somewhat dense and foam-ish and feels quite like your natural skin oils once applied. No noticeable wrinkle vanishing in a mere 4 days!- although my husband swears I have no wrinkles, which is probably why I don't give a fig about the whole face-line issue anyway. One just likes to do what one can!

Aveeno Ultra-Calming Foaming Cleanser

For some reason, the switchover from Long's Drugstore to CVS means that those stores no longer carry my tried and true Clean and Clear cleanser and toner for sensitive skin. This was very inconvenient, especially as I was using the last of my travel-sized, self-decanted cleaner last week.

In desperation, I decided to try Aveeno Ultra-Calming Foaming Cleanser. I knew that a foaming cleanser might leave my skin feeling a bit tight, but I liked the "ultra-calming" claim. Plus, Aveeno has a solid reputation for living up to its claims to soothe skin. If I didn't buy it, I'd be washing my face with shower gel that night.

It was a risk worth taking. For less than $8, this product really does do what it says on the label. It's a real pleasure to use - light and somewhat creamy, but without the barrier cream effect of Cetaphil or Physician's Formula Gentle Cleansing Lotion (which contains mineral oil that just doesn't seem to rinse away).

I'm still going to keep looking for the Clean and Clear products, especially as the toner is now almost gone. Time to go treasure hunting online...

Target night cream

Yes, that's its name- black circle with a smaller black circle inside, registered trade mark "night cream"- and there is no more information about it to be found on the internet or on the pot. It's sold next to a popular Olay night cream, and I picked it up in sheer desperation and confusion after weeks of pondering the whole modern anti-ageing beauty oeuvre- but guess what? It's rather nice! An odd yet encouraging smell (blackberries mixed with dentists' offices?) and a pleasing non-greasy yet somehow satisfying texture that definitely feels like it could do something good. Is this due to dangerous radioactive chemical ingredients? And will it actually remove wrinkles given sufficient time? I have no idea, but am a big enough Target fan to go with them for now. After trying a few other off-the-shelf night creams over the last couple of years (including various Olays but not the Regenerist Continuous Night Recovery, with which the Target one claims to be comparable) this one has so far left me most smitten of them all. But I may spend the extra $4 or so and try that Olay next, just to see.

I am sensing a theme to summer beauty

Pleasures
Originally uploaded by dynamist.

Everything seems to be coming up pink. That's the only difference I can tell between traditional Pleasures and this big bottle that Estée Lauder sent me last week.

I know it's terribly unoriginal, but I'm a big fan of pink and so not complaining in the slightest. I just wish you could smell the dusty rose color of this perfume.

What's your favorite pink product? (Please, don't say Maybelline Great Lash Mascara! Ugh.)

A Navajo prayer on beauty

Forgive me for taking this blog down a rather hippy-dippy route, but I do quite like this, from Pamela Slim (via my friend Gretchen Rubin's excellent Happiness Project blog).

With beauty before me, may I walk.
With beauty behind me, may I walk.
With beauty above me, may I walk.
With beauty below me, may I walk.
With beauty all around me, may I walk.

Mistaking Youth for Beauty

The older I get, the more I realize youth is beautiful. My teenage daughter's friends can be slouched in their pajamas bottoms, shoveling cereal in their mouths as they stare at the TV, and it's like dripping honey in my eyes. We don't necessarily see this when we ourselves are young; we're hypercritical of our own looks and everyone else's. I had this driven home recently on Facebook, when I saw a twenty-year-old photo of a grade school friend's brother, a kid I'd always thought was homely. But he wasn't; he was beautiful.

Then again, sometimes we do the opposite, becoming dazzled by what we assume is the downy cheek when really, it's the hard wrought beauty all around us. I guest blogged as much today, at lovely-at-any-age Foodinista's site, she of the impeccable taste, and will you look at those shoes?