Another reason to love Colourlovers.com..

Last night, on our way to Chinatown for our weekly Moo Shu Pork and Pan Fried Noodles with Vegetables, it started to snow.  Snow in New York is one of the most beautiful winter holiday experiences.   I say this because its important to remember the beautiful parts of the holiday season when it typically is one filled with an extraordinary amount of stress.

Anyone who has read this blog knows that in times of severe anxiety, I often go straight to my favorite web site, colourlovers.com.  There is something relaxing, meditative, (sigh)… calming about looking at different color palettes.  I feel like a mushy bowl of jello just thinking about the cute British way they spell color with a “u”.

Which is why I was happy to discover that colourlovers.com has now made the most adorable note cards from its most popular color palettes!  Not only does this website defrazzle my nerves with soothing palettes that settle all firing neurons back into place, but they just solved my gift-giving dilema of unique but inexpensive gifts!  A dozen for me, please!

Yum for the holidays

I know it might be weird to blog about a blog but I am currently fixated on www.chocolateandzucchini.com. It’s created by the most darling Parisian girl, the photos remind me of those in Gourmet and there is an archive of tons of unique recipes. I recently made the “wholesome banana bars” which were scarfed down by family members within just two days.  When the economy is down , you can always be frivolous in the kitchen!  And there are  great  ideas for holiday  dinner parties.

Sex and The City Dreaming…

Remember this one episode from Sex and the City – the one where The Russian takes Carrie out on a date to a gallery after hours in the middle of the night?  What a fun date!  I always thought that it would be so much fun gallivanting around a gallery or museum all by myself (with or without a date…).  As of October 24th, my mini fantasy has become a reality – well, almost a reality.  Imagine a bedroom set on top of four revolving glass discs, in a room at the Guggenheim, all for you and your date for one whole night.  As part of the Guggenheim’s Theanyspacewhatever exhibition, this revolving hotel room, designed by Carsten Holler, will be available for guests to stay overnight in, but every night is already SOLD OUT!  What a disappointment!  All is not lost though, becuase Hotel Everland is still on rotation around Europe – currently in Paris, atop the Palais de Tokyo.  Seems like we have a  new generation of “boutique hotels” coming our way…

From the (Moisturized) Intern Desk at Presse….

Presseboutique.com finally decided to include skin care products.  It’s not a surprise that Clark’s Botanicals was the first choice to grace our website.  These products are supposed to be “an intensive nutritional supportive skin therapy treatment that revitalizes aging, dry and environmentally stressed-out skin.”  As an intern at Presse, we get to try out these products and see how we like them.  As a skeptic of any kind of new facial products, I really did not know what to expect and was hesitant to try it.  I mean, this coming from a girl who has been using the same skin care products for the past 10 years.  Several times I tried to switch to more well know and luxurious products that shall remain nameless, but each time I was disappointed wiht the results.  So, I was somewhat, dare I say it, scared to try this product.  Despite my fear, I decided to give it a go and chose to try out the Deep Moisture Mask.  The mask goes on for about 15 minutes and washes off with warm water, or it can be used as a moisturizer.  When I opened the jar, the scent of the cream was fresh and very pleasing.  The texture was so soft that I actually got exited to us it.  After 15 minutes, I washed my face and immediately examed the results.  My skin was so elastic and moisturized that I could not stop looking at my face.  I refused to put any foundation or powder on my face for the next two days.  After that, I decided to use it as a mask about one week.  I have found that the more I use it, the plumper my skin gets.  In the world of experimental beauty escapades, I consider this one a true success.  An A+ from this picky and skeptical intern.

Minis

I like to joke how in another life my job will be a “Personal Shopper for Babies.” (This is after my career in retail and my turn as a Wedding Stylist.) The press release would go something like this: “These days, there is more and more pressure for babies to look good whether it’s at Mommy and Me or at the park. But how are they to find their own style when the market is so overwhelming? That’s where I come in!” So really…..I am just obsessed with all the amazing baby clothes that are out there. Recently, my mom sent me all these sweet cardigans and tie-dyed tees that I wore in the 70s. They were all knitted by grandmas or dunked in dye by my hippie mother. But now, small boutiques are carrying unknown names who spin hand crafted knits and sweet little layering pieces. It’s insane. The baby market is bonkers. I particularly love Mor Mor Rita, Emma & Avery and Marie Chantal (who is rumored to be opening up a store in Beverly Hills!) Shopping for the little one is truly more fun than looking for myself. And in an economy like this…..it’s a dream to have Baby Gap close by.

Crazy Custom Prints

Renee and I see as many lines as we possibly can: those with buzz, those we find in magazines, those who come through the doors of Presse. Sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised, other times, disappointed and occasionally, ecstatic. Here is a young line called Vassilisa which blew me away. All the prints are custom….Very Hermes but with a modern-bohemian-French flair. The scarves are genious: the big ones are so big, they can be tied on like a dress and the small ones, looped around once are truly elegant. Just my scene…..

Je rêve de heels…

There are so many fashion subjects I could share with the world everyday, but I have to admit I have a tiny obsession with shoes.  While working last week at Presse Fashion Office, where our bosses regularly do wardrobe consultation and personal shopping for private clients, I was sent to the shoe department at Saks… You have to understand, it is very hard for me to walk through all these masterpieces and not dream about them being in my closet.

I came to think about the transformation from ‘sample shoe’ we see on runways, to actual ‘product shoe’.  So many stars have access to the craziest shoes that we, ordinary mortals, don’t have. Why is that?
Last season Marc Jacobs gave us the ‘reversed heel shoe’ and we (I?) loved it! I want more!!! I want Madonna in gun heels, and Victoria Beckham in boots propped up by air heels!!  Heels need to be more fun.  And after all, if the economy is going down and we cannot spend that much money anymore, then I would rather keep my old jeans, my white cotton t-shirts with holes… and be shoebulous!
J’adore!

Presse Interns Heart Big Necklaces…

While I am traditionally more of an ‘earring girl’, the necklaces this season are seriously making me reconsider my jewelry choices.  It all started with my obsession with Marni’s chunky and architectural pieces a year ago. They are the perfect balance of playful colors and artful sophistication. But, oh dear, the necklace craze has only intensified. I’m currently coveting Vera Wang’s hot pink multi-colored glass necklace here at Presse.  And naturally, after the necklace was featured in Vogue my fixation on these bold collar-like necklaces was solidified. Upon attending Vera Wang’s Spring/Summer 2009 fashion show, I am aching for the oversized chain-link crystalline necklaces to come to market. Pair one of these statement-making necklaces with a simple t-shirt and jeans and you strike the perfect balance of effortless chic!

A Few Things…..

My mother-in-law just bought be The Sex and the City Movie (Extended Cut, obviously). And upon re-watching (saw it with my BF with whom I spent my 20s in New York) I obsessed over many more outfits that I feel I missed the first time around. Some of my favorites are below but I CANNOT DEAL with the ivory rose bomber jacket. Word on the street is that it was once Dior but re-sewn into a Members Only jacket because it was too hardcore in it’s original state. I seriously do not know how a jacket could be any more sick…..Which leads me to my most recent obsession of a very similar piece I saw in the Koi Suwannagate showroom for Spring ’09. It’s a more wearable version of the jacket I so love but in a cardigan version. I am kind of surprising myself that I am so fixated on clothes right now when I have so much going on in my life to make me HATE them! I guess the love never dies…..

What I like to do when the sky is falling…

You know, I hate to be Debbie Downer in times like these, but I can’t help myself.  I plopped down on the couch last night with a big bowl of carbohydrates and a nice rose, and anticipated the presidential debate to send me over the edge.  And it did.

As the co-owner of a start-up business, I can’t say this shaky economy doesn’t make me weak in the knees.  I have never felt faint in my life, but the word queasy has recently been introduced into my daily language.

Which is why I was so over-the-moon this morning when I found out that there is going to be an attempt to make my all-time favorite British fashion comedy Ab Fab into an American series in 2009.  Yes, its true! The networks have successfully figured out how to re-make The Office, and Kath & Kim, if its anything like its Australian counterpart, should be a hit.  So if America can nail my Edina and Patsy, complete with Christian Lacroix and naughty fashion victims, I’ll be happy as a clam.  Even if the sky is falling…