Eyebrow threading: My favorite way to brighten my face, and my mood.

Eyebrows are one of the most important features on a woman's face. Despite their minimum facial real estate, busted brows can mess up a whole look.
I am fully obsessed with my eyebrows -- not to mention with those of others: eek! -- and I find that I am so much happier with my smiling face when my sparse brows are primly groomed. Hence, my favorite way to get a quick pick-me-up (that is, without spending 400 on a fab new handbag, which would do the trick faster than you can say Marc By Marc Jacobs) is to lay down seven fat Euros and get my eyebrows threaded. The place to go in this city is Le Centre de Beauté Indien, with two locations in Paris Xème. The threaders are real pros and if you can stand the five minutes of prickly pangs, you too will walk out with beautifully sculpted brows, trimmed just so. I recommend it to anyone looking for a cheap change that will make all the difference.

LUSH product review: HARD Shampoo bar.

I found out about LUSH products on MUA. I originally thought it was just another smelly body-care company whose gimmick was to make products which appear like food. When I read here that LUSH's products are all natural and specifically tailored to explicit problems, I was dying to give some a try. 
Upon first use of HARD, I must say I am pleasantly surprised, and for a couple of reasons (note, I have long, medium-thick, virgin hair that tends to grease at the roots quickly): 
1) The vendor told me this shampoo bar would last three times as long as an 8 ounce shampoo. Plus, there is no extraneous packaging.
2) The price is adapted to the product: Not every LUSH item is the same price, even if it is the same size, weight, or in the same category as other products, they tailor the price to the ingredients (or so it seems). 
3) Use proved perfect. I live in Paris where the water is so hard that your clothes, dishes, skin, and hair all go to crap (or simply to grayish, actually). This shampoo lathered, wasn't too smelly (I have an aversion to strong perfumes), and left my hair squeaky clean: I am on day four of the wash when usually I need a wash after about a day and a half (though I only do it after 3). 
I truly hope the bar will last as long as they say and that I will continue to see the fab results. I have recommended it to everyone at work -- as we all live with this unmanageable water supply -- and do the same to all readers who truly have problems with hard water.

The Girls

My beautiful, smart blondie niece, me, my mom, and my sister on a beautiful day of sightseeing in Paris. We found a lovely little bench at Parc Monceau.

MELISSA ANDERSON SWEAZY'S KID: I'LL TAKE TWO, PLEASE!

This is exactly how I will be dressing my just-a-twinkle-in-daddy's-eye (two) kids: affordable and fabulous, without a Disney Character in sight.

From  MARY CASHIOLA on Memphis Flyer:

Melissa says Harlow is outfitted (in these photos at least, I don't know about her overall wardrobe) mostly in Old Navy, with boots from Target and an H&M hat.

As for the coat, Melissa notes that it would work well for full-grown women: "The plaid coat needs to be stocked in adult sizes or the next lady who compliments her on it may actually steal it off her little toddler body."

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VOGUE.fr: Les créateurs se mobilisent pour Haïti

VOGUE.fr:
Les créateurs se mobilisent pour Haïti

Fashion can be more than simply pretty.

Winter Sales in Paris: Just a little taste

The Naughhtniess 
I have been naughty. The famous Soldes happen twice a year here in Paris and the winter version began on Wednesday, 6 January. I went a whole week without making any purchases but cracked at Printemps on Wednesday for a Diabless cardigan at 50% off and a Chantelle bra at 27€: great bargains, though unplanned.
Anyway, I had intended to attend a MAC sale in the 7th arrondissement since receiving an invitation in the mail a few weeks ago. The sale proposed 50% off for clearance of MAC's famous limited edition items left over from 2009, and the invitation was for me and one friend; I brought Lucia, my best make-up shopping partner. We arrived at rue des Saints-Pères to a line of women down the block but happily chatted out the wait for about 45 minutes under the relatively warm late afternoon sky. What awaited us inside was MAC heaven. The selection was huge and included all of the products that make them famous, in particular eyeshadows and lipgloss of all shades and shines. 
My Steals
Although this scoop won't be of much use to readers as the products are no longer available, I think I should share because they're so good! I scored two beautiful shadows, both in neutral shades: one in Crème de Miel from last spring's Naked Honey collection and another called Warming Trend from the Cool Heat collection which one Makeupalley reviewer called, 'light-shimmery brown with neutral-grey tones'. I love neutral shadows for everyday wear and my funky color collection is already stocked, and tapped into ever so infrequently. At a 40€ retail value, I also bought a six-shadow palette in a flashy red bejeweled case with a great mirror inside and a mix of neutrals and rich dark colors, which I will give to a friend for her birthday. Finally, and rather shamefully, I actually paid money for an item on which Hello Kitty is printed: a cream nail varnish in Vestral White. I haven't tried it yet but love quality polishes so look forward to sporting some white in the near future.
All of this for the reasonable price of 43€ and a quick Sunday outing with my best make-up girl. I will certainly make a point of attending MAC's events in the future.


Note: I am working on my labels for my posts and will eventually devise a rating system of some sort, both of which will hopefully be understandable to all readers. Once I have done so, I will retroactively change labels and add ratings as necessary.

Every blog needs a first post

I have essentially been writing this blog for years, and even more so since being married to Luc. Observing, obsessing, critiquing, and regularly dolling out my opinions are my daily pastimes, all of which lead to diatribes—both interior and exterior—of varying intensities. Luc has, in his calm and cool nature and also as a consequence of his career, contributed in heightening my ability to harness some of my opinions while at the same time providing me with an eternal audience, and, more importantly still, sharpening my powers of scrutiny and opening my eyes to new subjects.

My idea for this is to develop some sort of tagging/labeling/rating system for the situations and experiences that take up so much of my brain space. I have strong feelings about nearly everything and relish the rare moments when I am truly neutral on a given subject, if only for a bit of repose. It is my hope that this blog will become a productive forum for my constant need to interfere in the lives of those around me, both acquaintances and strangers, and perhaps alleviate some of the awkward moments and wide-eyes I tend to create in any setting, really. I am telling myself that I will write it here instead of spitting it out to the detriment of the closest indiscriminate pair of ears. I suppose anyone who knows me will be chuckling to himself or herself just now…