I got this offer in my e-mail today from Saks, if anyone is interested:

Receive this signature train case and matching cosmetic case containing deluxe skin care and cosmetic samples* with any $50 Lancôme purchase. Tucked inside you'll find: ABSOLUE EYE PREMIUM ßx Absolute Replenishing Eye Cream (0.25 oz.), ABSOLUE NIGHT PREMIUM ßx Absolute Night Recovery Cream (0.5 oz.), ABSOLUE PREMIUM ßx Absolute Replenishing Cream SPF 15 (1 oz.), COLOR FEVER LIPSTICK Lasting Radiance Sensual Lipcolor in Beige Everyday (full size 0.14 oz.), COLOR DESIGN Sensational Effects Eye Shadow in Daylight, Makeover, Snap and Statuesque (.05 oz.), DÉFINICILS High Definition Mascara in Black (.07 oz.).

Just enter promotional code: LANCOME7 at checkout. The online Lancome store at Saks is here, and the offer isn't available in the regular (brick and mortar) stores.

I absolutely LOVED this episode :)

( SPOILERS THIS WAY )

ION, in preparation for watching tonight's episode I read all of the episode recaps on afterelton.com. If you haven't read them yet I highly recommend you do so when you get a chance. Entertaining. Snarky. And you might learn something too! I had a wikipedia window open the entire time I was reading so I could look up all the fashion and cultural references I wasn't getting... Flock of Seagulls? "David Bromstadian levels of niceness"? Soutache? Go read them.

I thought this was the best episode I've ever seen of Project Runway.

So, here's a something I've been wondering about lately.

I love watching shows about fashion (What Not to Wear, How Do I Look?, etc.), keeping up-to-date with what's in and out, and going shopping with my girlfriends (because we're all each others' best fashion critics as well as second set of eyes) for cute little things. But, despite this wellspring of knowledge that I use frequently for others, and the outfits that I have for myself, I simply do not dress myself well most of the time.

How many other people do this, I wonder? For those that do, does it make you feel as badly as I do? Have any of you ever made a pact with your friends to never, ever rat each other out to the likes of What Not to Wear? (We did!) How many are like me in that they get their nails manicured professionally, but still schlepp around in sweats?

I guess that was more than one question, but I have been wondering about all of them lately. Mostly, I wonder if knowing about fashion but not practicing it still makes you a fashionable person. It's an odd thought to have, but... I had to throw it out there.

Shoes cost too much money and this makes me sad :(

I wandered into a shoe store on my way home from work today. There was a cute pair of black ballet flats. They were $238.

Needless to say, I walked out of the store without a new pair of shoes.

It got me thinking, so I decided to make a poll :)

( Because polls make me happy )

Does anyone here wear OPI?

I just started collecting OPI, and I have like four bottles so far.

An Affair in Red Square
I'm Not Really a Waitress
Big Apple Red
Kangarooby
Who Are You Wearing?

I got my nails done today at one of the nail salons at that mall and I had You Ottaware Purple put on, cause I love the color purple. So, then I went to Trade Secret at the mall *that's where I buy my polish* and I couldn't fine it anywhere. I don't even see it listed on OPI's site :( Does anyone know where I can find it?

Oh, and on Christmas Eve, I was commenting to my aunt Melody on how pretty her nails were, and she was all like "Thanks. The color is called I'm Not Really a Waitress." I flipped out in a good way, because I had the same thing on at the time. I was like "OMG!!! You too?!" And my uncle chuckled and was like "You have on the exact same polish, Nicole?" And I was like "OMG!!! Yes!!!"

So, 4cupcakes1988 didn't know how to do a spoiler cut, so she kindly deleted her post about last night's Project Runway. And so here's my cut....


Also: recap of the episode, with lots and lots of photos, on AfterElton.com.

Thanks Xie! I deleted my post because I can't figure any of this out...I can't even reply to your replies b/c the original post is gone....Bad me! *slaps wrist* I'm going to go visit santinorice.com for a while as punishment for my previous post...I guess I'm just a little sadistic like that.

 Uh, hello? *peers around asylum door* I just joined and hoped I could rant about my freckles/negative body image for a little while...?

Am I the only Project Runway addict on this asylum?

Recap of the first episode since Dec 12, with photos!

The weather outside is frightful, but the spring makeup ads are delightful. Or so Nordstrom tells me.

I got a little email today from my BFFs at Nordstom's Chanel counter, letting me know the spring 2008 colour cosmetic collection was in. (Why is it that throwing that extra "u" in the word makes it just so much more chic?)

Unfortunately me and spring colours not so much, including these, but for those less wintry than I.... it's all here.

The other good news is that with each purchase (limitations apply blah blah blah) you'll get a free sample of their new and not yet available in stores anywhere for any price although when it is, I guarantee it will be a big one, Sublimage Serum. The Sublimage line is very costly and much beloved by those who use it, so it might really be worth it if you already want to try some of these pretty things.

On second glance, perhaps I will try this new lipstick in "Frivole," after all.

Well, I've had fun learning how to do this. Next up? Actually learning Photoshop. Maybe. I've got all year, right? ;)

Without further ado, here are some more beautiful over-40 women: Annie Lennox, Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, kd lang and, for VL, Toni Morrison, along with a few miscellaneous fashion type ones, too. (No disrespect intended to those younger than 40 in the asylum!) ;)

And in support of beautiful women of any age and body shape, I present Mesdames Catherine Deneuve, Lena Horne, Minette from a Dove ProAge ad, Jane Alexander, Nancy Wilson, Maya Angelou, and Katharine Hepburn. They're not fancy, "real" icons at all, just pics I snagged from google images and cropped with IJ's icon maker, but feel free to snag if you'd like.



Holy cow! There's got to be an easier way to do these than the way I did, but then again, I actually posted some icons, so Go, Me! ;)

Made a few icons this past week of some very special women. Enjoy.

( Audrey Hepburn, Dorthy Dandridge, Grace Kelly, and Marilyn Monroe )

Peep Toes and Mary Janes Platform Heel Pumps, shoes we all want. The problem is that the designer versions cost more than $500, and a cheaper designer version can cost $140. What are you supposed to do if you want a cute trendy shoe at a fraction of the price? The answer is a web site called amiclubwear.

$23.99.

$19.99.

I have mild rosacea. When I was in my 20s, I had what I thought was "acne," which I'd had continuously since my teens. But at some point, it stopped being adolescent acne and became rosacea, or what we called then "adult acne."

Since there was no web and very little public awareness of even the existence of rosacea, I had no idea that I had it. I had, I thought, "adult acne." And "sensitive skin," which to me meant that I burned easily and everything made me break out.

I thought that acne was caused by too much oil on your skin, so I used things that de-oiled me. Which of course made it all worse.

One day I was talking to a skincare educator from Aveda, who handed me a small bag of Aveda's "sensitive skin" line, and asked me to just try it. I did. And within days, my acne cleared up, never to return.

My pores got smaller, my skintone evened out, and I actually used to have total strangers compliment me on my skin.

Just to get this tagged and available -- feel free to share the Femme Asylum icons as long as you credit the iconmaker. It's not necessary to credit this asylum.

You can find our icons here.

I have really really dry skin on my forehead and on my cheecks right under my eye area. Can anyone recommend a good, but inexpensive moisturizer? Please and thank you.

Also, I bought Bare Minerals yesterday from Sephoria, and I used it today. I can't tell a difference from my skin from before I put it on to after. No, really. I can't.

I've been experimenting with every kind of foundation you can think of: powder, liquid, etc. My problem is my skin is oily, I have acne (ugh, I thought I was over the acne thing when I was a teenager. How wrong I was!), and I am starting to see deep pores, and of course, I have the whole eye bag thing going on. I like the powder foundation, such as Bare Escentuals, but it doesn't cover enough of my problem areas. As far as liquid foundation, ugh, what can I say? It covers MOST of my flaws, but not all. I have to buy oil-free makeup, but alas, as soon as I do the whole moisturizer - foundation - concealer - powder thing, my face starts looking very distorted in color. Plus, with the oily skin thing, it makes my foundation start to break down immediately.


Any recommendations as to foundations I should try? I'm at my wits end trying to keep everything covered.

Shopping Graphics
Credit: Veer.com and Corbis.com for the photos.
Notes: Credit if taking any. Comments are gold. Blanks not bases.

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