Author: Cold Cream 'n' Roses

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Clothes Shopping in India

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I have twice (1, 2) made reference to our layover at Heathrow Airport. My husband and I were en route from India, where we visited his family.

While the sari is the dress most commonly associated with India, younger women are opting for the salwar kameez, which allows for greater mobility. A salwar kameez outfit consists of the kameez, a tunic; the salwar, a pair of loose pants (almost like a harem pant); and a dupatta, a long scarf or shawl. Sometimes, a tight-fitting pant called a churidar is substituted for the salwar.


Salwar kameez

More recently, young women in India have taken to wearing a kurta or short kameez over jeans or other western-style pants. As my niece noted, this outfit has become the working woman’s uniform.

Salwar kameez are typically sold as an entire outfit; however, department stores in India such as Pantaloons and Westside sell the individual pieces as separates. As I was frustrated in my search for simple cotton kurtas in the U.S., I picked up a couple of kurtas at Westside.

According to my niece, tailors can sew custom kurtas at a nominal price. At the upper end of the price scale is Fabindia, which does ship outside of India.

shu uemura eye shadow

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Eye ♥ shadow – just read my recent posts on IsaDora Eye Shadow Quartets and Stila Fall in Love Eye Shadow Trios. During my recent layover at Heathrow Airport (before the current terrorist threat), I visited the shu uemura counter, and was captivated by the selection of eye shadows.

These eye shadows have a silky texture and are identified by color family (Pink, Gold, Green, Blue, Purple, Beige, Brown, White, Grey, and Black) and finish (matte, pearl, metallic, or irridescent), rather than by meaningless attributes such as Tempting, Coy, Shy, Audacious (add your own). It’s a practice I’d like to see other makeup brands emulate.

After Shiseido, shu uemura is probably the best known makeup brand to come out of Japan, although it’s now owned by L’Oreal Group. U.S. customers may shop the U.S. site shuuemura-usa.com.

Penguin Mug

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Starbucks will be selling the novel For One More Day by Mitch Albom, author of Tuesday with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven. It’s a natural progression (more natural than Starbucks getting into music or the movies), for who doesn’t enjoy reading and hanging out while lingering over a cup of coffee or tea?

Here’s where these mugs with designs based on the original series of Penguin Classics are a nice adjunct to your reading and coffee-drinking ritual. I selected Wuthering Heights as I’m boggled how Emily Brontë, with her erratic education, could have produced such a masterpiece (read it again, and notice how the multi-generational saga of Heathcliff, the Earnshaws, and the Lintons is related over the course of a night by two servants).

Also clever is this pair of demi-tasse cups – “Sweet Danger” and “Black Mischief.”

From Art Meets Matter, the same people who brought us the Christine Keeler chair.

Intentional irony

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How’s this for intentional irony? This chair, made of recycled paperboard, features the famous photograph of a nude Christine Keeler straddling a chair. Christine Keeler was the call girl whose brief affair with UK Secretary of State for War John Profumo (while she also slept with a Soviet spy) led to the collapse of the goverment of PM Harold Macmillian in the 1960s.

For more information about this famous photograph, visit Wikipedia. This picture has been much imitated: see the picture of the Spice Girls (one phenomenon of the 1990s that many would like to forget) on Wikipedia. Also, Joanne Whalley recreated this image when she played Keeler in Scandal (1989). More recently, Sharon Stone copied the pose for her flopperoo Basic Instinct II:

Treehugger used other styles to illustrate its post Flat-Pack for the Flat. Apparently, the irony was lost on them.

Guardian Unlimited Books | News | Gritty reality of the Brontes

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Portrait of the Brontë sisters, as painted by brother Branwell. Look center right to see that Branwell has been painted out of the portrait.

I don’t keep up with the latest movies, but the film Brontë, which is about the writing Brontë sisters – Charlotte, Emily, and Anne – will be a must-see for me (the film is in pre-production). Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are among my favorite books. In fact, I’m so obsessed that I’ve read three biographies about the Brontës.

For more about Brontë, visit The Brontes as You’ve Never Seen Them Before… and click on Comments to see my feedback.

Update on mass-market brands: 2007

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This past spring brought several new launches of mass market brands. The Max Factor (owned by P&G) and Almay (owned by Revlon) cosmetics lines were completed revamped, while L’Oreal launched its HIP line and Revlon launched its Vital Radiance line for women over 50. The Style Page wondered how supermarkets, drugstores, and “big box” retailers (Wal-Mart, KMart, Target) were going to accomodate these new brands.

See The Beauty Newsletter for a critique of Almay’s dated eyeshadow concept.

HIP appears to have been a success – L’Oreal has recently expanded the line with two new products: Pure Pigment Shadow Stick and Shocking Shadow Pigments, in addition to new colors for its eye shadow duos(another indicator is that searches on “L’Oreal HIP” are a major driver of traffic to this blog).

Max Factor, however, has been a disappointment: many of the main drugstore chains (CVS, Walgreen’s, Rite-Aid) do not carry the line, and it is found only at Wal-Mart and KMart. Maybe the problem was the ads that featured Carmen Electra wearing scary makeup.

Revlon’s much-hyped launch of Vital Radiance has been a disappointment. Due to lackluster sales of the brand, Wal-Mart, Target, and CVS plan to cut back drastically on the number of stores carrying the brand, while Revlon believes that consumers need more time to know the brand better.

According to WWD, “Market reports indicate that Wal-Mart will trim the line [Vital Radiance] from 2,500 doors to 500, while Target will cut it from 1,500 to 500.”

My take is that consumers were turned off by the prices of Vital Radiance products, which are higher than those for other mass-market brands. Vital Radiance’s target audience of women over 50 are probably value-conscious and rejected the higher prices.

I am not the only one who thinks this way – see comments on my post Vital Radiance UPDATED 2006-02-22.

Revlon should have priced Vital Radiance lower, or issued discount coupons to entice first-time buyers. Then there’s always the dicey proposition of marketing to older women without making them feel … old. An introduction of skin care products planned for 2007 might change Vital Radiance’s fortunes.

Revlon sees a $40 million loss from Vital Radiance. Things haven’t been so great on the personal front either: Revlon Chairman Ron Perelman’s marriage to actress Ellen Barkin ended in February 2006, after five years of marriage.

Shop Etc. – Shop Talk – Fall Preview: Stila Fall in Love Eye Shadow Trios

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Fall In Love Eye Shadow Trio in Forest Clove

I want the eye shadow trio in Forest Clove (pictured above), which features shades of shimmery gold, olive, deep brown olive. Available from Sephora.com.

I’m obsessed with olive green eyeshadow (see my profile). Other good eyeshadow trios featuring olive shades are MAXeye Shadow in Baja Bronze from Max Factor (the colors – a yellow matte, a tan “British khaki” matte, and a shimmery olive do not display accurately at all) and Vital Radiance Soft Dimension Powder Shadow in Fresh Meadows.

As a single, I like jouer Eye Compact Eye Shadow, Peridot, described as a “shimmering olive”.

NOTE: Sephora.com is discontinuing Jouer, along with Beauty Buffet, Diane von Furstenburg Beauty, Girlactik, Passport, Pinkie Swear, and She She. Shop now to stock up.

While olive green is complemented by golden or yellow shades, I’ve also used Joe Blasco Eye Shadow in Green Genie, available from makeupmania.com.

World of Good: Jute totes and bags

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In Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta), India, jute totes with bamboo handles are often used as shopping bags. These bags are often emblazoned with advertising for a particular merchant.

World of Good, an organization devoted to promoting fair trade crafts, is now marketing totes and messenger bags made of jute with geometric designs and webbed straps:

I spotted these at Whole Foods Market.

What’s new in Beauty

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Only two weeks after we completed an update of the Bookstand pages, we have completed an update of the Beauty pages on The Style Page website. Check out the many new links, including new links for nearly 30 cosmetics brands on our Cosmetics page.

Also, check our web pages for the linkrolls, which provide links to interesting articles on beauty. For example, did you know that India was a major supplier of human hair for wigs and hair extensions? Find out more by visiting our Salon page.

Fragrances and More is offering our readers a discount of 10% for orders of $50 or more now through August 31. They offer many boutique brands of fragrance, bath and body, skin care, candles, and more. To take advantage of this offer, enter “stylepage” as the coupon code.