ShopVogue.TV Clip

In this "Spring Fashion Overview," VOGUE senior market editor, Meredith Melling Burke, discusses the latest fashion trends from 2008’s Fashion Week show in New York City, plus action on every runway from Paris to London to Milan. Discussing clothing, shoes, handbags and jewelry, Melling shares her favorite colors, prints and more from the designers that hit the runway running this year. I ADORE the belted yellow dress shown within the first 30 seconds. It's TO DIE.

To see all of their brand new Spring videos, including a wrap up of Fashion Week, visit www.shopvogue.tv.

Get a One-of-a-Kind Gloss at Prescriptives!

Me, in my office at work, taking a break to pose with my new red Prescriptives Custom Blend Gloss. I look more like a koala than usual in this pic, but as there is no other gloss like it on the planet, I had to show you what it looks like on!

Yesterday, I went back and forth to Bryant Park 3 times in between packing and moving boxes! It was quite a day to say the least. One of my trips included a stop at the Bryant Park Hotel to visit the Spanx and Prescriptives suite where I learned all about the latest developments in Spanx (get excited gals, good stuff is to come!) and then got a custom blend lip gloss just for me. On my way into the elevator, I spotted my friends Julia and Erika who'd already gotten their own custom glosses and looked uber-glam!

I'd asked for a clear red gloss (like I don't have 18 of those, I KNOW) but Drita, the makeup artist at the Prescriptives counter at the flagship Bloomingdales store in New York, is a talented DARLING and whipped up something a little less clear in a muted light red that I absolutely ADORE. I've shown everyone at work. My mother is planning a trip in from Philadelphia to have Drita mix her up her own gloss. The gloss comes in a large test-tubelike container (I feel like I'm doing a lab report when I use it!) with a large, clear, squeeze tipped applicator. I love a red gloss because I can't really wear bold lip colors without shine. I'd love to rock a matte red lip, but every time I try... I unwittingly channel Juno, as in "Juno, [your] caseworker" from Beetlejuice? Let me refresh your memory:

It's not that kind of party here at BBJ.

I also had the opportunity to meet Libbie, who does PR for Prescriptives, and she's an absolute doll. We dished about Fashion Week, eyebrows (hers are divine), and moving. Speaking of eyebrows, Drita used Prescriptives Groom Stick, a self-sharpening pencil that matched my brows perfectly. I left with my custom gloss in-hand and a fantastic gift bag from Spanx with a pair of their socks and a pair of their High Waisted Tights (how did they know I was plum out of tights? Moving/working/FW reporting has left NO time for laundry!) in black and I'm rocking the hell out of them today. I'm much impressed dolls - I was hesitant to put on tights that literally came up to the bust. I thought I'd feel claustrophobic, but these are actually comfortable and keep me streamlined and slim in my pencil skirt. Love, love, love. I had already had a pair of their Reversible Tight End Tights, which I literally wore to death. They suffered a snag from my knee high boots and I NEED to replace them stat. Black and brown tights at once, can you even? I may even need to hold a memorial service for them. Have a delightful Wednesday, all!


My very own custom gloss. It comes with its own suede bag!

Photo credit: Beauty Blogging Junkie and imaginarycinema.com

Bobbi Brown "Be True to Your Heart" Lip Palette

Bobbi Brown Cosmetics has created a limited-edition red lip palette in partnership with The Heart Truth campaign and its annual Red Dress Collection Fashion Show. The palette was created to raise awareness for the campaign and its message that heart disease is the #1 killer of women. The show, of which Bobbi Brown Cosmetics is also an official sponsor for the third year in a row, brought Hollywood’s leading ladies together on one runway at “The Tent” at Bryant Park during the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week on February 1st.

The Bobbi Brown Lip Palette includes Bobbi's own favorite lipstick shades in a range of neutral and deep utterly wearable colors. Shades include Mauve Lip Shimmer (my personal fave of the four), Kir Lip Shimmer, Cranberry Lip Sheer and Slopes Lip Color. Only 500 of these limited-edition palettes, featuring a specially designed package and the tagline “Be True To Your Heart,” will be available on BobbiBrown.com for $40.00. The palette also includes a mini Lip Brush.

Snap one up before they're gone, dolls! Limited edition items that also benefit a good cause? What's better than that?

Photo credit: Bobbi Brown Cosmetics

Cintra Wilson Reports on Fashion Week on Salon.com

You know how I feel about Cintra Wilson, right? Well, she's been reporting on Fashion Week for Salon.com. Her most recent piece is Alice in Fashionland. Check Salon.com later in the week for further updates.

Fashion Week: BBJ Backstage at Vivienne Tam

Hey, gals!

Once again, I cannot believe my lifestyle. Thanks, TotalBeauty, for the opportunity to go backstage and get the inside scoop on all things beauty at the Vivienne Tam show today.


John Reyman for Aveda (pictured above) talked to me backstage about the inspiration for the wildly huge hair going on. "Vivienne wanted to go with dramatic hair - really all about shape and texture." After taking a look at different images of possible shapes, John went for a Himalayan feel with free flowing ends instead of tucking them under. Curly razzed-up extensions were added for serious volume, before John backcombed and curled the entire bulk of hair. He used Aveda Volumizing Tonic, lots of Air Control Hairspray, and Pure Abundance Potion, which fascinates me. It's a thickening agent that transforms from a powder into a light, absorbing lotion. The end result was serious shape:



Take a look at the Table of Extensions:


I then journeyed into the makeup section through the hallway in the backstage area of The Promenade where MAC makeup artist Polly Osmond (pictured with model, second photo down) had a couple minutes to talk to me about the idea behind her makeup concept. Polly is a British doll who even let my ragged-tired ass sit during the interview! I was lucky to get there at a good time! The look is based on Tibetan clothes and the richness of their colors, specifically purples, golds, and oranges. Polly focused on a deep purple eye - think a cross between Crayola 8 Pack Purple and Indigo from Rainbow Brite. You with me? "This is a softened version of a similar look I'd seen recently in French Vogue," Polly explained. To achieve the bold face, Polly applied grey pencil inside the eyelids before painting on varying tones of purple shadow. She opted for a pale lip so as not to create a "clown-like appearance." Cheeks were also muted: Polly chose MAC Blush in Emote, from their Smoke Signals Collection. This is a grey-brown blush she used for shading. It goes on sheer. Liquid foundation was used for coverage in a matte finish. Eyes were finished off with a few coats of black mascara - no false lashes.

Check out a close-up of the purple eye (Prince would be so pleased):






Nails were polished with CND's Deep Velvet, a rich plum with slight shimmer. This thick, opaque color is available now.






Photo credit: Beauty Blogging Junkie

Fashion Week: BBJ Backstage at Tibi

I hope you're ready to Make Your Own Kind of Music, you Dancing Queen. For Fall 2008, the 70s are back. NARS makeup artist Ayako (above, left) told me the look for Tibi's Fall 2008 line was heavily 70s influenced, much like the look at Miss Sixty. Said Ayako, "When the girls arrived fresh-faced and rosy from the cold this morning, I kept them that way." On many of the models, she chose to skip foundation, using only NARS Powder Foundation when necessary. She applied NARS Blush in Dolce Vita, a matte formula in a dusty rose due to hit shelves for Fall 2008. False lashes weren't used, instead, Ayako used copious amounts of mascara to create a dramatic tarantula eye. Lids were primed with a matte porcelain creme eyeshadow. Lips were filled in with NARS Velvet Matte Pencil in Belle du Jour, a nudeish flesh-toned hue. Ayako then glossed them up with NARS Lip Gloss in Female Trouble, a delightful pinky-beige, also due to hit shelves for Fall 2008.


Nails were polished with Creative Nail Design polish in Serenity, a sheer, glossy nude.




Next, I hit up superfun Kevin Ryan (above, right) to gab about hair. He definitely speaks magazine copy, i.e., my internal lexicon which I subconsciously suppress. Well, not anymore. "The inspiration is the pretty girl in your high school yearbook," Kevin said. Felt-covered hot rollers were rolled under in the back to create an "expensive wave." "Picture a high-school-aged Stevie Nicks at her best." No uptight updos here, just loose, flyaway strands parted in the middle, with no volume nor thickening agents involved. Kevin used Bumble and bumble's Does It All Hairspray to lock down curl. "It's very Breck Girl," Kevin laughed. In the front, Kevin used a curling iron to wave hair away from the face in "sausage curls" and then brushed through to de-perfect it. "Like Farrah Fawcett?" I asked. "Almost," he responded. "Farrah Fawcett in a small town."

I spy with my little eye: A T3 Evolution and a T3 Twirl.

Oh. And if you think I left before making sure I got a photo of ANTM's Saleisha pre-runway, then you don't know me at all:


This nice model "vogued" for me to show off her makeup before I left:





Photo credit: Beauty Blogging Junkie

Fashion Week: Iodice

I attended Iodice last night and was totally into his yellow pieces. Unfortunately, my photos of those didn't come out, but I wanted to share with you the best photos of the lot so we can discuss the beauty concept which was PHENOM in my profesh opinion. If I were in charge of hair and makeup at a show, this is exactly what I'd do. Hair was twisted into neat (but not librarian-neat) buns with a LOT of height. Hair was pulled straight back and back-combed at the top and crown for megavolume. The eye concept: lots of winged black liner that resided somewhere between Angelina Jolieville and Amy Winehouse County. It was artistic and avant garde without looking trashy or veering too much into Marvel comic book villain territory.





What do you think?

Photo credit: Beauty Blogging Junkie

L'Oreal Professionnel Backstage at Hervé Léger

I wasn't able to attend this one, but I thought I'd pass along the info as I adore L'Oreal Professionnel Infinium Hairspray! And I covet the color and length of that model's hair. Gorge.

L'Oréal Professionnel Texture Expert and hair stylist Malcolm Edwards brought sophisticated and youthful, "sex-bomb" glamour to the runway at the Hervé Léger Fall 2008 Collection, yesterday at Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week.

Edwards created a simple silhouette using the haute couture fashion inspired luxury styling line, L'Oréal Professionnel Texture Expert. First, dry hair was prepped with Mousse Volupté and Densité to provide a great styling base and add volume. Next, each model's hair was blown out and the entire back section of the hair was saturated with Infinium #2 (regular hold working spray) hairspray to give a strong but workable foundation. Each section of the hair was back-brushed to achieve exceptional texture and then flat-ironed to set the texture. Infinium #4 (extreme hold finishing spray) hairspray was then sprayed on the top/front of the head and the top brushed flat and tight against the head, with a slightly off-centered part. The final look reflected the theme of the Hérve Léger Collection - powerful, modern feminity.

Pictured above is Malcolm Edwards for L'Oréal Professionnel Texture Expert styling the Hervé Léger Fall 2008 Collection.

Photo Credit: Gerardo Somoza

Fashion Week: BBJ Backstage at Miss Sixty

Hi, dolls!



Backstage, I had the opportunity to interview Gucci Westman (!) who was working with MAC Cosmetics backstage at the Miss Sixty show. "The inspiration was based on a combination of Joan Jett and Bohemian themes," Westman explained. She used black eyeliner, rich blue eyeshadow (which she's applying to the model, above) and a lot of mascara. Blush was a minimal beige. Gucci herself is gorge in person! I couldn't believe she wasn't going to accompany the models down the catwalk. During the interview, Gucci and the model joked about how they both used to love baby blue eyeshadow and mascara when they were younger.


Bumble and bumble, one of my faves, worked on hair for the show.
The Inspiration: 1970s Glamour.

How it was Accomplished: A lot of center parts, long, flowing hair with kicky curl at the ends, accomplished with a large curling iron. No Bumble and bumble thickening spray was used, just Bumble and bumble Styling Lotion (A Fabulista Fave since 02!) Extensions were woven in for bulk, not length. The look was finished off with Bumble and bumble Big Shine and Does it All hairspray.

Nails were polished with Creative Nail Design's Nail Gloss, a translucent medium pink sheer, from their Plexi Pop collection.

I had no problem skipping the beginning of the Super Bowl to report on this (OBV), but I am happy that the Giants just won!




Photo credit: Beauty Blogging Junkie

Fashion Week: Thuy

Gals, I have to tell you. It's like I've been trying to get through my dinner for years... and it's finally time for dessert. Thank you, Total Beauty, for the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream of reporting on Fashion Week.

This weekend is a whirlwind of fantastic events. Yesterday, I, along with over 25 other bloggers attended a fab dinner at Koi sponsored by Total Beauty and Aveda. Tomorrow, Splendicity is sponsoring a delish brunch at Sarabeth's. I look forward to that. It was great to have the opportunity to meet so many darling ladies, whose blogs I'd been reading forever, in person. I also realized something funny. In every situation/group I'd been in previously, I'd say I knew a good 90% more on average than the other people in the room about all aspects of beauty: makeup, hair, skincare, bath products, nail polish, etc. I think of myself as someone with broad knowledge of each. I realized how little I know about the ins and outs of each particular aspect of beauty compared to these other girls... except about hair. It seems hair is my number one thing, dolls. Who even knew? That was the only topic about which I could hold my own! Anywho, back to Fashion Week coverage.

This morning, I attended the Thuy show, where the MAC makeup artist focused on ethereal white shadow, enough liner to make me happy, and a strong matte lip. No gloss to be found here, ladies. But trust me, you won't miss it. Lashes were long, thick and defined. But the hair won me over. Dolls, I typically don't love an updo. But I'd allow Liam of Ted Gibson haircare to updo-me any day. Soft, glistening curls were loosely anchored into twists or relaxed pony tails resting midway on the back of the head.

I loved the mod colors, bold tights, and sky high shoes in every color possible of a Crayola 64 pack. I don't purport to be a fashion blogger, but I will see this white silk dress and this purple dress and chocolate brown coat combo again in my dreams. Brown and purple is going to be HUGE in my Fall 08 lifestyle, that's for damn sure.





Here are my fave beauty looks of the show:














Stay tuned for backstage scoop on Miss Sixty, Tibi, and Vivienne Tam.

Photo credit: Beauty Blogging Junkie