Growing up I was more of a Little People type of kid then a Barbie Girl. But if you’ll take a look at our Photo of the Week, you’ll understand why I’m dying to get my hands on the latest Barbie incarnation from Mattel. Yep, our favorite characters on the small screen, those martini swilling, tortured souls of Mad Men will be getting the Barbie treatment. They might not be the ideal dolls for a little girl and the $74.95 is daunting, but check out the great details! Joan has her signature pen necklace, Don’s suit is cut to perfection and Betty’s dress with matching pumps is utterly divine. Start saving now – this special collection hits stores in July.
• My big discovery this week was truly groundbreaking as I realized, despite my occasional rosy red blotches, my skintone is cool. All right, you may not care, but this will make such a difference when I’m trying to find the perfect foundation or tinted moisturizer. Plus, it explains why even though I love the feel and formula of my Chanel make up, the color is always a little off – the notoriously yellow base of Chanel products works against my cool tone. Want to definitively define your skin tone? Beauty School Blog has a fascinating, detailed lesson plan: Skintones – Am I Cool or Warm?
• This week’s aww-moment comes (again) from Cute Overload and some lucky peeps in my home state, Pennsylvania. Check out these incredible images of love and snuggles amongst the green grass between a tabby cat and a doe-eyed deer! Do I need to say anymore? Some Enchanted Morning
R.I.P Alex Chilton – Alternative Rock’s most influential singer songwriter passed away this week and there’s a good chance you’ve never even heard his name. Not to go all Rock Snob on you but the death of Big Star’s Alex Chilton made me ponder the fickle hand of fame. They should have been the biggest band in the world but diverted into cult hero status. Maybe not a lot of people heard the music of Big Star, but chances are good the kids that did went out and started their own band. With acts like R.E.M., Beck, Elliott Smith, Ryan Adams, The Replacements and Wilco citing Chilton as a major influence, that’s a pretty great legacy. The San Francisco Gate has a nice perspective: Why Alex Chilton should have been a big star
All right, we’re well past the ‘in” part of March, but between the Oscars and St. Paddy’s Day, our Etsy 4 For Friday picks have been filled. I was waiting to pay homage to one of my favorite little, old-timey sayings – one I’ve had a soft spot for ever since my kindergarten teacher had us all make lion masks (from paper plates and orange yarn), then let us growl and run around on all fours the entire school day! Did you know the proverb about March weather is based on astronomy? From the first of March to the end of the month the constellation Leo (the Lion) rises higher in the eastern sky (and Aries the ram/the lamb, gets lower in the western sky). So my picks today are a salute to the King of the Jungle, the majestic lion and tune in next week for Etsy finds to close out the month. Bet you can’t guess what the theme will be!
• I want to order a dozen of these Lion Gift Tags and Bookmarks and keep them on hand for every time I gift a book! You can write a message on the back of the bookmark (or leave it blank), label the tag, wrap your carefully selected book in a brown paper bag and tada – an elegant present. The bookmark is created from post-consumer recycled paper and shipped packaged in a cellophane sleeve.$1.75
• Aww, I love this so-very-70’s Vintage Cryin’ Lion Bank! Why the sad, single tear Mr. Lion? Probably because I spend all of my spare pennies instead of saving them in this adorable avocado green, plaster bank. $15
• The intricate detail on this hand carved Lion Pendant is amazing. Carved using a “lost wax process” the piece is then custom finished to this silvery sheen that resembles ancient Japanese bronzes. It would make a special gift for for the Leo (or lion lover) in your life. $175
• Double aww! How adorable would the little reigning royals of your household look in this King of the Jungle Hat!? This hand crocheted beanie is “designed to grow with your child,” and folds to adjust to your King or Queen as they grow. $30
When I received a couple of lip products for review from the brand, Ellis Faas, my first thought was Who/What the heck is Ellis Faas? The answer to my question made me very excited to open the boxes. She is a European makeup artist that Vogue Paris hailed as one of the most influential make-up artists of her time. Originally from Amsterdam, Faas trained in Paris and received her big break working with famed fashion photographer Mario Testino. Since being discovered back in 1999, Faas has gone on to work for Karl Lagerfeld, heading the makeup for Fendi and Chanel fashion shows and is in high demand working on international fashion magazines. Ten years after she began making a name for herself in the business, she debuted her own makeup line in early 2009. While Ellis Faas is not a household name in the States yet, judging by her previous successes, it’s just a matter of time.
Ellis Faas dubbed her new collection Human Colours and looked to the human body for her inspiration. Every shade is inspired by colors that exist in the human body. From the tawny peach of a freckle to the vivid red that pulses through our veins. The idea is that because these shades naturally occur within, they are flattering to every skin tone (which they clearly illustrate on the site by showing each lip color on white, dark and Asian skin tones, as shown above from the left. Brilliant~wht) If the concept on color wasn’t innovative enough, all Ellis Faas products, save for the powder, are packaged in somewhat lethal-looking, bullet-shaped click pens that can be kept in the Ellis Faas Holder, a canister that keeps all Ellis Faas products neatly organized in your purse.
We were fortunate to receive an assortment of Ellis Faas lip products to review. Paraben-free and chock full of vitamin E, they are available in three textures: creamy, milky, and glazed. Creamy Lips offers a classic lipstick look in a long-wearing creamy texture. Milky Lips is more of a liquid lip color with semi-opaque, buildable coverage. Glazed Lips is an ultra-wet, glossy look in sheer, long-lasting vibrant colors that can be blotted for a more stained look. With 27 gorgeous shades, you will definitely be coveting these lip colors!
I got to test Creamy Lips in L101 (top row), also known as Ellis Red (their signature color) and the only shade that is available in all three textures. The color is a gorgeous deep, true red that would flatter everyone. It has a sponge tipped applicator and you only need the smallest amount for a perfect application. You can apply it heavily for a creamy feel or apply lightly for a deep, matte stain that lasts all day. Seriously, it really does last ALL day. I put it on at 9 a.m. and I still had a trace of pink on my lips when it was time for bed. I think everyone may NEED this shade. It’s like a Goldilocks shade of red–it’s not too blue, not too orange, but just right.
Feeling Lucky? We’re giving we heart this members three chances to win a set of the three MUD lip glazes that we just reviewed! We loved them, and we want to share the love with you (cause that’s what we do!) It’s a $36 value and it can be yours…
We heart that the MUD is a line produced by a makeup academy, the Make-up Designory. As Lindsay said in her review “You know it’s got to be good when it’s being put to the test every day by makeup artists and industry experts!” So for this giveaway, let us know:
If you had the chance to go to the Make-up Designory; what’s the number one thing you’d like to learn? Me? I need to know how to put eye makeup subtly on your bottom lashes (I always look like a clown). Tyna wants to know the best way to fake cheekbones. How about you? Keep in mind, they do makeup for the movies too. So, if you want to know how to make someone in to a zombie, that’s an acceptable answer too!
Here’s how you enter (choose one, two or all three ways for the maximum chances to win.)*Please note: you will not win if you are not a we heart this member. (But joining is simple and takes all of two minutes. Sign up here.)
For your first entry, make sure you are a we heart this member (see above) and simply leave a comment telling us what you’d most like to learn from the masters at the Make-up Designory.
Follow us on Twitter and retweet this message for a second entry:
RT @weheartthis: Enter our @makeupdesignory giveaway and win a set of 3 Lip Glazes! http://bit.ly/cUw3uJ
Want to automatically get a third entry? Members who enter and have the Tell Me More section of their profile filled out will get just that. (Don’t know where to find these? See FAQ #10 for profile page help.)
We’ll accept entries until Wednesday, March 24th at Midnight (pst) and will announce the winner soon after that. Good luck!
Important: Please make sure you are signed in to your we heart this account when you comment, otherwise we won’t know you are a member. This giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada only.
Disclosure: This giveaway includes products/prizes that were provided by the manufacturer/PR firm for our consideration. For more info, or any questions, please see our disclosure policy.
I’m a lipgloss junkie. I have it all, my trusty Blistex, painful plumping versions, Lip Smackers á la eighth grade…well, you get the idea. But until now, I’ve never found a gloss I was willing to go nude for.
As soon as I got my hands on MUD’s full line of Lip Glazes (3 carefully selected shades) I was hooked. These little tubes of perfection are truly the “grownup” answer to the middle school era gunk that I just couldn’t completely cut ties with. And at only $12 each, a bargain!
MUD, or Make-Up Designory, is a particularly fun makeup line because it’s a spinoff from their schools in Los Angeles and New York. You know it’s got to be good when it’s being put to the test every day by makeup artists and industry experts! The best part is that MUD provides shoppers with all the tools to get the same looks that they put together, like the professional-quality lip brush (need!) that retracts for the perfect throw-in-your-purse favorite to get glam on the go.
My favorite Lip Glaze was most definitely Bare. MUD describes the color as a warm beige-pink, but I don’t think that even comes close to doing it justice. This is the first nude glaze I’ve ever tried, and it has kicked off a whole new look in my makeup repertoire. I’m very fair, and it gives my lips a natural-meets-glam shine without any shimmer. I pat a bit of face powder over my lips before applying this to neutralize my natural lip color and give it a really great base. I love to wear this gloss with a peachy blush and soft pink eyeshadow for a really youthful glow. Bare is really the perfect color for summer and would pair wonderfully with all those China Glaze pastels we’ve been eyeing!
I was a teenage sun goddess. The lengths to which I’d go to catch a few rays were legendary– skipping school to lay out on metal bleachers in the football stadium in my bra and panties comes to mind. I think my goth years, during which I cultivated a healthy “pale,” might have saved me from even worse damage, but honestly, my sun abuse took its toll: dark spots, uneven skin tone, freckles. I wish I could go back in time and slap some sunscreen on my perfect young skin, but the damage is done and there’s no going back.
Or so I thought until I got to test a bag full of potential miracles: samples of the Sonya Dakar Ultraluxe Age-Control line. According to their literature, Sonya Dakar Skin Care believes that caring for your skin requires hard work and commitment. The SD line includes over 60 products created from a combination of botanical and scientifically-created ingredients. I was especially excited to try these products because a wht review of her Drying Potion, got a perfect 5 star rating.
I got to try sample sizes of the following Ultraluxe products…
“It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.“ S.I. Hayakawa
I’m a voracious reader. Always have been. I was the child who had a book in her hand constantly; reading while walking and running into things. But books, even used, can get expensive. And I need that money to buy beauty products! Libraries are amazing but I can be a bit rough on books. (What? Not everyone reads Susan Wiggs while painting their nails or holding a mixer in a bowl full of brownies?)
So, if you’re like me, PaperBackSwap.com (PBS) is a great option. PBS allows you to get books for the cost of shipping, usually less than $3. And it’s super easy, which makes my lazy, cheap bibliophilic heart sing with joy!
Yours too? Okay, here’s the low-down: first you sign up with PaperBackSwap and then list 10 books that you have at home. Not just fiction or paperbacks; that Cooking for Dummies book that your husband got you and started that week-long fight? Or the 7 books on Chaucer that you had to buy for that Lit class you dropped and couldn’t sell back? Your ex’s self-help audio books? Put those on there too! These books will count as part your “Bookshelf” and you also get 2 free credits (1 credit = 1 book) to use immediately just for signing up.
When Maureen Kelly founder of tarte cosmetics started her business and cosmetic line (from her tiny apartment) in 1999 she was doing all of us a favor! Producing a line not only created with the best ingredients, but also packaged in total finery. Seriously, think about Lights, Camera, Lashes!mascara or their trademark pseudo snakeskin; what could be better! The wht review team seems to agree tarte is a top quality, colorful line as evidenced by our past reviews of the eyeQuatic Summer Essentials Set and the Holiday 2009 Collection.
But it’s not all striking packages and shimmery makeup at tarte; did you know that tarte is also an eco-conscious company worthy of a Green Monday review? Maureen launched tarte when she “became frustrated when (she) couldn’t find healthy, nourishing cosmetics. Everything…was full of unhealthy, synthetic formulas.” To make matters worse, when Maureen located a green makeup line, the packaging was so blah, she didn’t want to buy it, “let alone take it out of my purse in public!”
You will have no such problems with any offering from tarte. All products are not only “98% free of parabens, petro-chemicals, phthalates, sulfates and synthetic fragrances,” they are packaged in chic, runway-inspired cases and compacts. To make things even better, the packaging components are made from recyclable or post-consumer recycled material and can often be re-used to help reduce environmental waste.
That reality is what made trying tarte’s Smooth Operator tinted moisturizer even more exciting for me. It is a subtly tinted moisturizer that packs a whopping spf 20 to protect your skin and is free of parabens, mineral oil, petrolatum, and other yucky stuff. Instead this fabulous tinted moisturizer contains chamomile extract (a wonder for facial skin with its anti-inflammatory effects), vitamins A, C, and E (to protect from free radicals while reducing signs of aging) as well as orange, lemon, Ginseng root…. are you getting all of this? Suffice to say, your skin will thank you for using this makeup.
I’m about to embark upon a weekend of debauchery, as we’ve got a we heart this party this weekend. So I thought before I delve into overindulging, I’d start it with a big dose of goodness.
Our Photo of the Week comes from a charity close to my heart Bad Rap, the Bay Area Pit Bull group that’s dedicated to educating people about this highly misunderstood and wonderful breed. Bad Rap (along with others) worked tirelessly to give the 49 dogs rescued from Michael Vick’s compound a chance at a happy life. It was a long road, but one look at this photo shows just how possible it was, and they never lost sight of that. Read more about their journey here and the incredible work they do for all Pit Bulls..
Here are a few more charities that have caught my eye recently…
Beauty Bus is a Los Angeles based organization that provides in-home beauty treatments, free of charge, to home-bound, terminally or chronically ill patients and their primary caregivers. Founded by two sisters who lost their 28 year old cousin to a degenerative neuromuscular disease, they saw that her beauty treatments were among the few things that gave her joy during her struggle. You can donate or volunteer and feel your own joy knowing that you are helping people to maintain dignity and give them respite during a difficult time.
Another charity that recently came to my attention is Small Can Be Big. Besides having a beautifully designed website, I love the concept. You directly choose who you’d like to help from a small, carefully-selected group of families and individuals that they spotlight who need assistance. These are people in circumstances where a one-time monetary donation can be pivotal (everything from pending eviction to escaping domestic violence). You can read their stories, they tell you exactly what they need to raise and track the process. Plus 100% of your donation goes directly to them. The site highlights approximately 10 families a month. There’s something nice about knowing exactly who you’re helping. And on that note…
Wht member Heather could use a bit of help as well. She’s a graduate student with a number of medical issues who is trying to get a seizure-response service dog through Power Paws Assistance of Arizona. She started Heather’s Miracle Dog, a line of handmade cards she’s selling to help raise the $5000 fee for what could be a lifesaving companion. Buy a crafty card, help a wht girl in need. Gotta love that!
And because I too am a do-gooder, I give you this. You’re welcome.
Cocktail of the Month Flashback: Pour the Perfect Half & Half
It’s the start of the weekend, and not just any weekend – with St. Patrick’s Day landing on a Wednesday this year, it’s the first of two weekends fit to celebrate all things Irish. If you are ready to raise a glass, you can’t do better than our Cocktail of the Month from October, the Black & Tan. Or, as it’s known in Ireland, the Half & Half.
Check the comments of the original post for a bit of Irish history, then pull out the Guinness, some Harp, frozen glasses and a spoon and get started! With our “secret” spoon hint, you will have the Luck of the Irish on your side as you masterly pour these striking cocktails. Cheers!
