Author: Cold Cream 'n' Roses

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ThickerLongerBetter Part II

Cold Cream 'n' Roses


SPINLASH™

SPINLASH™ is a battery-driven mascara wand that is available at Target and CVS. It comes with its own mascara cartridge, but I use it applying my “regular” mascara (I’ve been trying out so many different mascaras that I really can’t call anything my regular mascara). By pressing either end of the switch, SPINLASH™ can turn clockwise or counterclockwise. It spins very slowly. SpinLash does seem to define and separate my lashes and accentuate curl. Call SPINLASH™ a buy.

What we women go through to get ThickerLongerBetter eyelashes! My totally hot nephew (dare I say this because I’m his auntie?) in India has naturally long and thick eyelashes that I have to recreate with eyeliner and mascara. I envy him!

ThickerLongerBetter Part I

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Many of us are constantly seeking the perfect mascara: one that thickens or lengthen lashes (or maybe both!) and doesn’t smear or clump.

Many people like Cover Girl’s Lash Blast. While Lash Blast doesn’t smear or clump, I was disappointed, as it didn’t deliver on building significant thicker lashes. Rimmel’s new Glam’EYES does deliver on building thicker and longer lashes and doesn’t smear. However, you might want to run a lash comb or clean mascara wand afterwards to define and separate the lashes.


Maybelline Colossal Volum’ Express mascara

beauty girl musings had great things to say about Maybelline Colossal Volum’ Express mascara. I have yet to try this mascara. If Lash Blast’s orange packaging was eye-catching, then Colossal Volum’ Express’s packaging is eye-popping, in a yellow that fairly screams. Monique said that you’d expect to pay about $7 for Colossal Volum’ Express. Where I live (Northern Virginia, near DC), if you have a CVS customer card, you can get Colossal Volum’ Express on sale for $4.99 through Saturday, July 5; even better, you’ll get “bonus bucks” that will give you $2 discount on a future CVS purchase. Enter your zip code to locate your nearest CVS store at CVS.com and browse the Weekly Store Ad to see if this offer applies to your store.

Since I mentioned the CVS sale, I should also mention another special applying to my location is “bonus bucks” for $5 discount on a future CVS purchase with purchase of LaRoche-Posay’s Anthelios SX SPF 15 sunscreen. Anthelios SX contains Mexoryl SX, which is the 1st sun filter in a sunscreen approved by the FDA in 18 years. Mexoryl SX fills the gap in sunscreens for short UVA ranges.

PS I took advantage of the CVS sale to purchase Maybelline Colossal Volum’ Express mascara. This has the edge over Rimmel’s new Glam’EYES mascara. Maybelline Colossal Volum’ Express is a buy.

PS Just got notice from Anthelios’ PR that Anthelios 40 with SPF 40 will be available soon.

She hath a way …

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Anne Hathaway

I subscribe to InStyle, but I’m thinking about dropping my subscription when it expires next year. I seldom go to the movie theater, and I don’t even have a subscription to Netflix. Consequently, I don’t know the “work” of the stars featured in the pages of InStyle. The only time I catch up on movies is when I’m taking cross-country or overseas flights. On my flight between DC and Copenhagen last month, I watched The Devil Wears Prada. That shows you how out of date I am.

Which brings me to the July 2008 issue of InStyle, with Anne Hathaway on the cover. There’s a series of Q&A with Anne inside the magazine; here’s a very small excerpt:

[Interviewer] Let’s talk about your boyfriend, Raffaelo Follieri. What does he do?
[Anne] Real estate and finance.

Now that’s a terse reply. Follieri made news himself, right on the front page of the Wednesday, June 25, 2008 edition of the Wall Street Journal. He has been charged with fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. Follieri claimed that he had close ties with the Vatican, which would enable him to purchase surplus Church properties at favorable prices for investment. However, money from investors was diverted into funding Follieri’s lavish lifestyle, including the $37,000 a month NYC apartment that he and Hathaway shared.

Fortunately for Hathaway, Follieri’s troubles didn’t spoil the successful opening of her latest movie Get Smart. Moreover, press reports claim that Follieri and Hathaway have split.

Now Nick Arrojo has his own hair care line

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I’ve already written that I skip the first half hour of TLC’s What Not to Wear (Stacy irritates me) to watch Carmindy and Nick Arrojo work their magic in the last half hour. Now Nick Arrojo has used his fame to start up an eponymous hair care line Arrojo, which is available at the tony Space NK boutique.

As for Carmindy, she has partnered with Sally Hansen for the Natural Beauty Inspired by Carmindy color cosmetics line. In my review, I wrote, “I suspect, however, that Natural Beauty Inspired By Carmindy will last only as long as TLC’s What Not to Wear is shown on TV.”

Now I’m more pessimistic. Only one of the various CVS stores that I visit in Northern Virginia carries Carmindy’s line, and there it’s hidden away from Revlon, L’Oreal, Maybelline, etc., right by nail care products. Hello! It might be Sally Hansen, but it’s not nail care!

The competition for shelf space and placement is intense, and clearly Natural Beauty Inspired By Carmindy has lost out. It’s only a matter of time before Natural Beauty Inspired By Carmindy disappears.

The keffiyeh controversy returns

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Rachel Ray for Dunkin’ Donuts

I know that my last several articles have veered away from discussing beauty, which has been my stock in trade, but timely topics such as Yves St. Laurent’s death and Barack Obama’s clinching the Democratic nomination for President have pre-empted blogging about beauty.

Last Saturday, I came back from Copenhagen, where only one Starbuck’s was spotted (in the airport) and Dunkin’ Donuts is non-existent. I came back to learn about the controversy concerning an ad for Dunkin’ Donuts, in which spokesperson Rachel Ray wore a fringed scarf suggesting the keffiyeh, which is closely associated with the late Palestinian terrorist Yasser Arafat.

The campaign was driven by conservative blogger Michelle Malkin and the strongly pro-Israel blog Little Green Footballs. Dunkin’ Donuts has since pulled the ad, thanks to Ms. Malkin and LGF and their thousands of followers. However, other conservative writers think that Ms. Malkin and LGF are reading into the adthings that really weren’t intended.

In Copenhagen, street fashion includes scarves, even keffiyehs, loosely worn around the neck. No wonder that dELiA*s called their version the “Euro scarf.” I don’t know if the kids have any knowledge about the keffiyeh and its associations and are merely buying into radical chic. It would help if there were a campaign to inform people about the terrorist attacks guided by Arafat and to prod them into questioning if they can justify wearing an item so closely associated with a terrorist.

Wondering about Obama

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I know that I’m breaking my own rule about discussing politics on my blog (given my dislike of fashion magazines that cover politics and social issues on one hand and fashion and fashion and beauty on the other), but given the enthusiasm that my fellow beauty bloggers have expressed via Twitter concerning Barack Obama’s clinching the Democratic nomination for President, I find it hard to restrain expressing my own opinions.

Now since Obama will face national elections, he’s going to have a hard time of persuading Americans to vote for him. The United States of America, as a whole, is centrist to conservative in its politics. In past elections, liberals who have secured the Democratic nomination have been decisively trounced in the general elections.

If his associations are evidence of his own views, Obama is not merely a liberal, but a leftist. Diehard conservatives might not share my opinion, but what distinguishes a liberal from a leftist is that a leftist has contempt for his/her country, while a liberal essentially wishes his/her country well. Rev. Wright (“God damn America”) and Michelle Obama (“for the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country …”) are leftists, while those Democratic nominees (McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis) who crashed and burned in prior elections were liberals.

Another concern I have about Obama is his willingness to negotiate with anyone, even a nutcase like Kim Jong-Il of North Korea or a religious fanatic who uses violent and genocidal rhetoric like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad of Iran, without pre-conditions. After Obama was criticized for his stance, he has been furiously back-pedaling to say that “preparations” are necessary, an approach that a recent commentary in the International Herald Tribune call “nuanced”!

On the other hand, I’m not ready to commit to McCain, as he pledges to maintain the U.S. presence in Iraq.

Yves St. Laurent’s perennial style

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By now, everyone knows that Yves St. Laurent died Sunday, June 1.


Yves St. Laurent in 1993

I do not consider myself a fashionista (which is why I don’t blog often on fashion), but IMHO Yves St. Laurent and Coco Chanel are the most influential fashion designers of the past century. I make that judgment in view of the way that their styles have trickled down to what the Brits would call high street fashion and have become perennials (the word “classics” somehow suggests museum relics).

Chanel introduced skirt and dress suits, jersey knits, and the LBD (the little black dress for those of us who are not fashionistas) to women. Yves St. Laurent feminized menswear such as bush jackets (La Saharienne), tuxedo jackets, pea coats, and matched jacket and pants. Those styles are with us still.

Sometimes, high fashion is best restricted to Vogue and the runways. The styles of Yves St. Laurent and Coco Chanel found mass appeal.

I’ll be away the week beginning May 25, 2008

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Hi folks,

I’ll be away next week (the flag gives clues about my destination), so I might not have an opportunity to blog then. After I return, expect reviews of Saude Pele from Christopher Drummond Beauty and WNW Beauty Benefits. Also, I expect to have another interview with an as-yet-to-be-announced beauty entrepreneur to share with you – see my past interviews with Lubna Khalid of Real Cosmetics and Lydia Mondavi of 29 Cosmetics.

Models who sing

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ABC News has a slideshow about models who make the transition From Runway to Big Screen (curiously it omits Rene Russo, who’s had a fair amount of success in the movies).

But models who sing? Here are three:

Rosie Vela

Zazu

Rosie Vela was a top model of the 70s who had liaisons with pop artist Peter Max and musician Jeff Lynne (ELO, The Traveling Wilburys). In 1986, she released her album Zazu, which featured support by members of Steely Dan. Zazu was critically acclaimed, and her video received play on VH1. However, she never really broke commercially as an artist.

Milla Jovovich

The Divine Comedy

Milla’s the triple threat: model (L’Oreal), movie star (Resident Evil, The Fifth Element), and fashion entrepreneur (Jovovich-Hawk). The Onion had a facetious article Milla Jovovich Inducted into Basic Cable Hall of Fame about her movie career. Her album The Divine Comedy, featuring songs that she wrote, was released in 1994, when she was only 19. At that time, she was better known for Return to the Blue Lagoon. Milla received critical acclaim for The Divine Comedy.

Carla Bruni

No promises

Carla Bruni is now Mme. Sarkozy, the new wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy. Among her liaisons were Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton. I will refrain from talking about the more scandalous episodes of her life. The above picture is the cover of her second album No Promises, which features poems in the English language set to music. Perhaps this was her bid to attract English-speaking audiences.

I like this cover. She looks like she’s deep into a book, but the picture also highlights her long legs – she’s 5’11” while her husband is only 5’6″.

Her song Quelqu’un M’a Dit (Somebody Told Me) was a hit in Europe. It’s also featured on the Starbucks CD compilation Songs of the Siren.