FashionEtc.com December 3rd, 2024

Traveling with cosmetics: a modern inconvenience.  Most luxury brands don't make miniatures, and there's no way to fit your necessary products into that one quart size plastic bag. We've parted ways with one too many perfumes at the security check—but not anymore.  Iconic perfume house Penhaligon's has made their best-selling Bluebell scent a solid.  Chic and convenient, this elegant silver-plated compact is the perfect way to keep your fragrance with you no matter where you go.  Shea butter and meadow foam seed oil provide a natural, silky feel to the solid Bluebell perfume, an unmistakable earthy-citrusy-sweet scent that’s a favorite of (jet-setter) Kate Moss.

$80, available at AHAlife.

Photo: Penhaligon's Bluebell scent

Most girls get their early beauty lessons from their moms, their sisters, or their middle school buddies during group bathroom breaks. I got mine from Gone with the Wind.

The scene is early in the film, before the war and Rhett Butler have come into Scarlett O’Hara’s life, and she’s sneaking off from ladies’ nap time during the barbeque to find her darling Ashley Hamilton and profess her undying love to him. (Unrelated: is it just me, or was he so not worth the fuss? I’d take Clark Gable any day.) Without much time to freshen herself up, Scarlett peeks into a mirror at the beautiful Twelve Oaks plantation and gives her cheeks a quick pinch. Immediately, she’s rosy-cheeked, flushed, and oh-so-lovely.

If you were to look at any of my study abroad photos from the months I spent in Madrid my junior year of college, you would notice two very visible themes. One, I exhaustively documented every instance that my roommate and I ate chocolate con churros, and two, I was regrettably heavy-handed with the eyeliner.

What is studying abroad for if not to understand life truths, however belatedly? This isn't Eat Pray Love, but I now know I cannot be Penélope Cruz in Volver...and walking in on your host mother using the bidet stays with you longer than the excessively photographed pastries ever will. You live, you learn, and you have yet to wear the tie-up espadrilles you bought six years ago for nine euros.

I'm always on the hunt for new skincare products. Bonus points if they fight wrinkles and are on the eco-friendly side. So when La Prairie invited me to the Bloomingdale's flagship for the launch of its Advanced Marine Biology collection, I was obviously intrigued.

The line was developed in partnership with Celine Cousteau—as in the granddaughter of Jacques. Cousteau (who I admit to now officially having a girl crush on) heads up CauseCentric Productions, a film production company that shoots short documentaries on people who are solving world and environmental problems. See? Girl crush. 

In an effort to truly be sustainable, La Prairie worked with Cousteau to help develop the nutrients and anti-aging ingredients found in marine life on land. Meaning? The seas aren't depleted of much-needed plant life.