Holiday Gift Ideas Under $150 (Well, Mostly...))

Need some help finding fabulous gifts around the $150 mark? 

If you are like me and don't get enough time to stroll the aisles looking for gifts, and find yourself doing more pointing and clicking, here are some ideas for you in the $150 range.

Nespresso

Nespresso GCA1-US-CH-NE VertuoLine Coffee and Espresso Maker, Chrome $120 

Your day deserves great coffee to get it up and running. Nespresso is world famous for being exceptional coffee. Make yourself a lungo or an espresso (or 2!) with this chic, stylish machine.

Temptu Holiday Airbrush Perfection Set $258

Ok, so its well over $100, but it is on sale for the holidays and there is a $75 discount....

This personal airbrush system give you a flawless,  movie star finish every time.

The set comes with a full size foundation, a blush and a highlighter. Fabulous has never been so easy!

Foreo Iris $139

Sister to the wildly popular and highly effective Luna, the Foreo Issa is an ophthalmologist approved eye massager that uses Alternating Sonic Technology to reduce the signs of crows feet, dark circles and bags under your eyes.

Iris delivers your favorite eye cream or serum much more deeply into the skin, (I'm not a scientist, so I just speak normal-person-speak. None of the technical mumbo jumbo

makes any sense to me anyway), and massages and stimulates the delicate skin around the eye. It's fabulous! And you see results pretty quickly too.

For Christmas you can get a set called the Pamper Yourself Beauty Essentials Set that includes the Iris, the Luna Play, and a cooling eye mask, all for $139.

Rag and Bone Ava Scarf

OK, so this one is a bit more pricey, but isn't it fabulous???

I love Revolve, partly because I love everything they do on Instagram, so cruising the Revolve website is one of my favorite things to do! I always find too many things, but today I am all about this killer scarf.

Child Of The Wild Elizabethan Choker $120

Chokers are the statement jewelry piece this season, and this one is amazing!!!

Set off the simplest LBD with this large, exciting piece, or absolutely kill it with jeans, a tee and a black blazer. 

I found it at Revolve.com and I love it.

Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream $100

For years I used to hear from models about this miracle cream that Charlotte would use on them on shoots. It made their skins glow and look healthy and radiant even after long international flights or coming in on the red-eye. The cream was magic and wasn't for sale.

I spent years wanting it, so when she released her makeup line it was the first thing I bought!

I don't use it every day, but rather save it for special occasions. It's lovely.

Available online at CharlotteTilbury.com

Bloomingdale's Beauty Box

When I lived in London I used to travel to New York once or twice per year. I loved it. I would go to Broadway shows, spend hours at the MoMa and the Met, walk all over the city, eat at fabulous food joints, and shop.
I loved going back to London with cool clothes and shoes that no one else had. I would spend hours and small fortunes at Bloomingdale's, and then get a huge kick out of walking around with their shopping bags, and back in London being able to say "Oh this? I bought it at Bloomingdale's in New York". 

Bloomie's has always held a certain magic for me.

I was so excited to hear that the Rakuten Affiliate Network and Bloomingdale's had chosen my blog as one of only 30 blogs to receive a pre-Christmas Bloomingdale's Beauty Box. Bloomingdale's!!!

I was supposed to wait until my birthday to open it, but I was too excited, and I couldn't wait.
It's fabulous!

Here is what blew me away. They didn't just put a bunch of excess beauty products into a box and ship them out. They clearly researched me and my blog, and then curated a box specific to things that I would fall over loving.

The beauty box also has a very french-girl approach to beauty, a timeless aesthetic that I am just obsessed with.


Let's start with hair. If you follow this blog you already know that I swear by Bumble and Bumble hair products. Among other things I use the Invisible Oil Primer, Bb Straight Blow Dry, and the Thickening Spray every time I'm blowing my hair out smooth. 
In my gift box I got a huge bottle of Bumble and Bumble Thickening Spray.

I have super thick hair anyway, but I swear by this product! My hairdrsser turned me onto it at the beginning of this year.
When you have a ton of hair like I do it gets really heavy and flat. I spray the thickening spray through the roots and first 3 or 4 inches of damp hair immediately prior to blow drying. It gives my hair fabulous volume and makes it bouncy. 
I'm sure it was created for people with thin hair, and I'm probably using it incorrectly, but sometimes that's the best way, don't you think?

You know me, so you already know that I love big, thick fabulous lashes. I am so fully invested in mascaras, and my beauty box gave me two to play with. 
Lancome Grandiose Extreme takes mascara to an entire new level.
When you want exceptional volume, maximum length and incredible lift, this is the mascara for you!

Check out the wand! The swan neck shaped wand lets you roll the mascara all around the lashes and get all the way to the base of the lash. It has dual brushes to super load your lashes - a short row to put product on and a long row to really pull the product through.
The mascara itself is super inky black.

Clarins Supra Volume mascara gives you full, fat, voluminous lashes. It contains Cassie flower wax to strengthen and protect your lashes, and is super pigmented.

This is a gorgeous, everyday mascara. You can use it as part of your total eye makeup, or, if you are channeling your inner french girl, skip the shadows apply a couple of coats of Clarins Supra Volume, and then set the world on fire with a swipe of the most killer red lip ever.

Take an extra 20% off almost all sale & clearance items with code TAKE20! Plus, FREE Shipping. Valid online only through Dec 18.

You know that I have blogged about MAC Ruby Woo lipstick many, many times. Ruby Woo is a classic blue based red. 

To me Ruby Woo is old Hollywood. Timeless, perfect, robust but so incredibly wearable. If you are in the mood for jeans, a white tee and a black blazer, this is your red lip. If you feel like going all out in your most sensational LBD, this is the red for you. If you are going for a look anywhere in the middle, this is the red for you!

Red lips can be tricky to wear, especially if they are slip-sliding around your mouth. Ruby Woo stays put and wears really, really well.
(As a side note, last time I was in Paris my daily look was minimal base, groomed brows, glossy black mascara and Ruby Woo, rubbed in with my finger. I love Ruby Woo!)

No party or big night out is complete without lashes.
My gift box had MAC lashes. I use MAC strip lashes all the time. They are perfectly shaped, flex well with your eyelid and are the perfect length - the enhance the eye rather than collapsing it. L.O.V.E.

Love Relentlessly eau de Parfum by Tory Burch.

Honestly?? Okay, so she had me at the name. Regardless of how this fragrance smelled I was in, boots and all! 

Tory Burch's new fragrance, Love Relentlessly is pure romance.
It's pink pepper and rose, folded into ambertonic and patchouli. 
It is beautiful, it is intensely feminine, it is luscious and warm. 
I am wearing it everyday. It is a lovely year round fragrance, but for right now it makes me think of a winter white cashmere sweater and curling up on an overstuffed sofa in front of an open fire, with a gorgeous man. This perfume is loooove! 

The packaging is beautiful, and don't you just love the bottle?

Thank you so much Rakuten Affilate Network and Bloomingdales!
These are just wonderful gifts and I adore them all.
XO 

All images by Kristina Beth Photography

Jessica Chastain's Incredible Lips In Miss Sloane

Jessica Chastain just made every lipstick you own irrelevant.

This weekend Chastain's new film, Miss Sloane, opens nationwide.
Her Oscar worthy performance will keep you on the edge of your seat as the movie twists and turns and ducks and feints. 
Miss Sloane is all intelligent dialogue, rich, delicious dialogue that happens at a wickedly fast clip, with Chastain delivering a verbal armageddon at a mile a minute.

When dialogue is so important to a film, the mouth delivering this dialogue is crucially important. Jessica Chastain's mouth in this film is mesmerizing. You can't take your eyes off it. 

Chastain' dialogue is delivered through a compelling, mesmerizing vermillion lip.

Elizabeth Sloane is a feminine, fashion forward D.C lobbyist who's power is locked up in a vermillion lip that reminds us at all times that she is in charge, at all times. It tells us that she will not be falling into any traditional traps, that she is a step ahead of the opposition. It tells us that she is not frivolous and she is not to be trifled with.

A true red would perhaps be an obvious choice for a woman in power, but true reds can add an element of sexuality to a woman, perhaps giving her an implied availablity to men. Perhaps a challenge to men, but ultimately a traditional red lip would let men sexualize her as opposed to fear her.

And this is where the genius lies. The vermillion lip combines power with blood sport. At first glance you know that she would tear an opponent to pieces and walk away with no remorse.

It's fantastic.

Miss Sloane is easily one of the best films of 2016.

Change your plans for this weekend and make sure you go see it.

Here are some great vermillion inspired lips to help you channel your inner Miss Sloane:

Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution in Glastonberry

available online at CharlotteTilbury.com

Marc Jacobs Le Marc lipstick in Blow

available online at MarcJacobs.com

Tom Ford lipstick in Smoke Red or in Scarlet Rouge

available online at Bloomingdales.com

Let It Shine! New work in Luca Magazine

All images via Luca Magazine

photographed by Kelly Cappelli

styled by Jennifer O'Bannon

hair by Lisa Marie

makeup by Corinna Cooke

As you already know, I'm the Beauty Director for Luca Magazine.
The new issue of Luca just hit newsstands, and I am really excited to tell you that it is available in every Barnes and Noble, nationwide!

Luca is a super positive magazine for teens and early 20 somethings. It's full of great information, fantastic fashion, and a delicious dose of beauty.

Here is a winter party story from the new issue, all about the rules of shiny makeup...

There's no time quite like the holiday season to throw on a party dress and let your gorgeous self shine! 

When your outfit shimmers, set the night on fire with an artfully placed super sheen, drawing attention to the feature you want to bring out the most.

There are rules to the game of shine - make sure you only gloss up one place on your beautiful face.

When your skin is shiny, your eyes are sparkly and your lip is glossy all at the same time you can look sweaty or super oily, which detracts from your gorgeousness.

The trick is to pick one feature to shine and balance it with another feature that is almost matte

Here are three fabulous ways to let it shine

1. Get your skin gleaming with a creamy shine. Instead of a glittery highlighter work a glow product into your complexion and balance it with a demi matte lip,a firm brow and a nearly bare eye. 

2. Keep your eyes and your skin soft and demure but go all out on an ultra glossy lip that shimmers in the firelight and balances the sparkle in your dress.

3. Own the night with a metallic or glittering eye. Tone down your complexion, add some depth to you lip, then steal all the attention with a wildly festive, high impact eye!

As a bonus for my blog readers here are 4 of my favorite shine products. I use them both at home and in my pro makeup kit to create a gorgeous glow to the skin.

Charlotte Tilbury               Laura Mercier                           Stila                     Pony Effect
Wonderglow                      Infusion de Rose                  Aqua Glow               Radiance Glow
                                           Nourishing Oil            Perfecting Bronzer          Hydrating Starter
                                                                                                                                   

The Coveted List December 2016

How is your end of year wish list looking?
I love making Christmas lists. actually I love making lists of things I want all year long!
This month we are channeling our inner french girl, drinking great tea and airbrushing our complexions to perfection.
Enjoy!


Eberjey Gisele PJs in red.

I found these on Revolve.com, a totally fabulous fashion website that has everything you can imagine from intimates to shoes to clothes to accessories. The Revolve store in Los Angeles counts many celebrities as regular clients, and one of my personal favorite fashion it girls, Chiara Ferragni.

Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse

French girls swear by this multi purpose oil that you can use on face, body and hair. 
Skin literally begs for oil during the winter. If your face is feeling dry or your body needs hydration anywhere, this glorious lightweight oil works magic. I love to put on a couple of drops before bed at night and wake up to a smooth, hydrated face that takes makeup beautifully and looks like it's glowing from within.
You can find Nuxe products online at Scarlet and Julia

Breville One Touch Tea Maker  from Teavana.com

Cold winter days (and nights!) call for hot cups of tea. I love buying Teavana teas with all their fantastic flavor combos, and the perfect way to make them or any other tea is with this tea maker. It heats the water to the right temperature, lowers th tea basket into the water, lets it steep, then raises it at the right time so your tea never gets bitter. It then keeps your tea hot for 60 minutes.

Jus By Julie 5 Day Jus Til Dinner Cleanse

Prep for the holidays with a 5 day juice cleanse. This one is great because you get to eat too. 4 juices throughout the day followed by a healthy meal. Jus by Julie juices are all vegan and non GMO. The reviews are fabulous.
Available online at JusByJulie.com

Kule The Modern Long Sleeve T

Nikki Kule's striped T's are the ultimate in french girl chic. Dress them up, dress them down they are always uber chic.

Check the website, Kule.com and get inspired by her story.

Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Red Carpet Red Lipstick.

Still my favorite red lipstick! December is the perfect month to kill it with an absolutely amazing red lipstick, and this is the one to wear. Matte lips are great in the winter, they look fantastic and are easy to wear, but for many of us mattes just dry the lips out too much, so we avoid them. One of the things I love about the Matte Revolution lipsticks is that they are super hydrating, so your lips look luscious, and of course Charlotte's colors are incredible.

Red Carpet Red is a classic, old Hollywood red. It is the ultimate red lipstick.

Available online at CharlotteTilbury.com

Temptu Holiday Perfection Set

This is super cool. You get the personal airbrush pod system with a bottle of foundation, a blush and a highlighter.

There is a product color selector on the website to help you get your perfect shade as well as the right shade of blush and highlighter for your complexion.

The personal airbrush system gives you instant, effortless skin perfection. You mist on just the right amount of foundation with perfect coverage, getting an even, flawless application that is still sheer enough that your makeup doesn't look caked on.

The holiday set is on sale online at Temptu.com reduced from $325 to $258

Tory Burch Marion Flap Shoulder Bag In River Rock

This suede shoulder bag is perfect.

River rock is a fantastic alternative to standard black or regular browns. The bag is chic, modern, looks equally killer with jeans and a t-shirt or an LBD. The suede finish is cool, the chain strap evokes a little Chanel magic, and the bag itself is a classic.

Find it online at Bloomingdales.com