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

Lily Lambert perfumes my sickbed

As Hillary noted previously, I have been pretty unwell since Saturday - some annoying virus, which tricked me into thinking I was okay to go to work yesterday, then made me shoot lentils through my nose last night in a crafty move designed to mow me down. And with that attractive image in your head, you can perhaps empathise with how I've been feeling. "No fun" pretty much sums it up.

There was one bright spot on Saturday, though, when I was first getting sick: A big box full of samples of Lily Lambert fragrances from our friend Lisa James, proprietor of the fabulous b-glowing.com. If ever I needed the power of the aromatic arts to whisk me away to another time, another place, and another mood, this was it.

Lily Lambert lives in Hillary's hometown - Portland, Oregon - and was a longtime jewelery designer before she turned to perfumery. This, the first line she has released under her own name, is full of fragrances that Lisa describes as "very wearable scents, but very signature". They come as 100 per cent oil samples - no alcohol - so you get fully concentrated product.

That said, referring to her work as 'product' almost seems insulting to Lily Lambert, who is clearly something of an artist when it comes to the olfactory senses. I can't tell you what a pure pleasure - a real escape - it was to sit up in my sickbed and take turns smelling all seven of the samples I was sent. Even ones which did not strike me as 'me' still made me want to keep smelling them. My favourite? Lily Lambert No 66, which is described as "a top note of fresh cotton, resting on the rich, sweet depths of mystical sage".

As I may or may not have noted here previously - I have said it to her in so many words, though - Hillary is much better at describing and writing about fragrances than I am. My analysis usually amounts to "I like that one!" or "Smells like a wet dog wearing grandma's socks!" I'm not that great at identifying all of the component scents, apart from the most obvious (such as cotton, strawberry, and musks). So I really enjoyed the whole experience of being able to smell each fragrance, 'liner notes' in hand, and try to sniff out each element.

So, how long before Lily Lambert comes out with a sampler pack - beautifully packaged, perhaps a black and white box lined in black velvet, fragrance notes on exquisitely textured cards - to satisfy my urge to give the gift of this smorgasbord of scent to all of my friends?

'Cause My Daddy He Treats It So Well

My own father will be in China over father's day, so I won't be able to wish him well until considerably after the fact.  He's exploring the possibility of a new joint venture that would see one of his technical start-up companies moving headquarters to Asia.  When he gets back, I'm going to give him a copy of Thomas L. Friedman's marvelous book The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century.   

But here's what I've got my eye on for Rick, who has earned honorary stepdad status by living with Tyrone's mother (me) for almost exactly half of said child's lifespan to date.  Tyrone just left with his bio-dad Scott and "official" tepmom Sandy on a trip to Hawaii, but he will have a surprise waiting for him in the driveway when he gets back.  A big, white surprise in the form of a 1990 Chevy Blazer, which Rick bought for him as a project for them to work on together over the next three years.  Tyrone will definitely be the only kid in the 8th grade to have his own car--running or not.

For his trouble, I think Rick the shaving connoisseur (he's of Siberian descent and hairy as a grizzly bear), deserves this super-chic organic shaving kit from Amenity, available through b-glowing (for more on this new site, see today's other post).   In honor of father's day, the following special is on:  Buy $30 of Amenity products and get a free badger bristle shave brush and free travel shave creme.

That Entrepreneurial Glow

As promised last week, here is a brief Q&A with Lisa James, proprietress and “Chief Beauty Junkie” of the web’s newest cosmetics boutique.  Don't you love how a beauty maven posts a black and white picture of herself on her extremely colorful (and well-designed) website?  Looking at Lisa, she could be living in any era from the past fifty-odd years.  Which is really the height of glamor, isn't it?

If you haven’t visited www.b-glowing.com yet, a Monday morning may not be the right time to do so. Wait until a nice lazy Thursday afternoon when you have an hour or two to kill and are closer to payday—unless you, like James, are the independent, self-employed entrepreneurial sort, in which case, put on your "research" cap and have at it....

What’s your professional background?
My career has been in advertising.  I've spent about 15 years working on the business side of TV commercial production.

What led you to start a beauty company?
At 38 I decided it was time to start my own business.  I knew I couldn't spend the rest of my life working for someone.  It just didn't "fit" for me. I decided to do what I was passionate about and that was always product.  I thought about a storefront, but the idea of being tied to a store 12 hours a day didn't excite me.  I felt there was a lack on the web of cool beauty boutiques.  Sure there is Sephora, but it's overwhelming with the number of brands they are not image driven.  There is way too much text to sort through.  I wanted b-glowing to be more about design that a ton of text. Also, there were a lot of cool brands out there that they didn't even carry. I decided to pick up the cause! :-}

I decided to focus on indie brands because there is so much sincere passion behind the brand by it's creators.  I believe their passion and my passion comes through b-glowing to our clients.

Name three women you consider to be great beauties.
Katherine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn, Jennifer Aniston.

Do you have a signature look? Or favorite looks?
I'm very ecclectic.  I love design and fashion and therefore love to play with it.  I'd say my daily wear is casual funky.  Today I'm in white cropped jeans with a grey tank top, heels and a funky embellished necklace. Yesterday ragged jeans, suede boots sexy v-neck sleeveless top with a another funky necklace.  Earrings are usually diamond studs unless I'm wearing some cool funky dangles.

What's the first beauty product you ever bought?
My mom bought me makeup when I was in 8th grade.  From walgreens. Probably Cover Girl or something like that.  Blush, foundation and powder.  I remember she picked me up from school and she had it waiting in the car for me. It was such a surprise and I was very excited.

What products are in your purse right now?
Shiseido Blotting Papers, Stila Illuminating Pressed Powder, Evolu Healing Lip Treatment, Three Custom Color Lip Gloss in Petal Pink, Bobbi Brown Lip Stain in Cranberry and Youngblood Lipstick in Kranberry. And also Lip Fusion.  I've really been digging that lately!

The novelist Edmund White once said that his "ideal reader," the reader he imagined when he wrote, was a genteel and sensitive middle-aged woman sitting in a windowseat drinking tea (my approximate memory of his quote).  Who do you imagine as b-glowing's "ideal customer"?
A savvy, confident women who knows good product when she sees it! She could be the style afficionado from the city or a suburban soccer mom...but she knows good product when she sees it and goes out of her way to get it because she's into taking care of herself.

Aglow over b-glowing.com

Shopping most cosmetic websites can be a jumbly-fumbly experience.  Even the classy ones like Sephora and the recently-defunct Reflect.com can feel as vast and characterless as a virtual WalMart--shopping Sephora's site has never equalled the sensual adventure of browsing their physical stores.  While comprehensiveness is good, there's been a dearth of boutique-scaled sites catering to the makeup afficionado. 

Now, however, you can go straight to b-glowing.com to peruse a distinct, beautifully designed and easily browsable website that is the online equivalent of walking into Fred Segal Beauty.  The first thing I noticed is that they carry some of my favorite boutique lines, like Two Faced and Three Custom Colors, a company whose every eyeshadow shade comes in a "warm" and "cool" version for different skin tones--how cool (or warm if you will) is that?  b-glowing carries a carefully edited number of lines, so chances are, if you love one of them, you'll want to try some of the others. It's like getting a recommendation of a book to read by a friend who shares your taste.

Founder Lisa James lists her title as "Chief Beauty Junkie," and hers is definitely a site by and for addicts.  But the same things that make the site is a conoisseur's playground also serendipitously make it idiot-proof for chippers.  There doesn't seem to be a single product here that isn't fabulous, and there's a "concierge" service if you need help.

I already have a wish list, which includes:

• Rose Poivree from the Different Company. A scent containing damascus rose, rose bay, pepper, coriander, vetiver and civet.  b-glowing also sells sample vials of all scents for $3.
• Mojo Cosmetics' Lip Bullet in a fire-engine red called Conviction.  Amazing color, even more amazing packaging.
• Aromapharmacy "Coldex" Candle.  Just what it sounds like--a therapeutic candle in a votive designed to look like a prescription bottle.  I'd also like the "Ritalert" and "Valiumello" candles to cover the bases.

Look for an interview with Lisa James here soon.....