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BEAUTY JONES will be up and running later this week, starting with a Best of 2008 post. I'll also be updating my sideblog at that time.
In the meantime, please check out all these fantastic beauty blogs:
It's so good to be back! Happy New Year!!!
In the meantime, please visit GIGI GOES GAGA for updated beauty news and reviews.
I've been blogging since 2004 and decided one day I wanted more space to talk about beauty and fashion because I just can't get enough of both. Thus BEAUTY JONES was born.
But lately I haven't had enough time or energy to devote to maintaining two blogs, so I'm going to make it easier on myself for a while and pour everything I have into the one that got me into this blogging business in the first place. You can bet I'll be updating my STUFF sidebar more frequently now with all my new finds and loves, so please drop by, say hello, and share in my beauty madness.
Because a woman who can wear a different shade of lipstick every day for at least a third of the year is mad indeed. But one that you and I understand all too well, right?
Beauty-wise, I've been in a bit of a rut lately. I began to emerge from it a few weeks ago when I picked up a bottle of Marc Jacobs EDT in Cucumber (which I've been layering over my grapefruit-scented shower gels and lotions), after going back and forth endlessly between that and the Orange scent (might just have to get this one too).
I've also been dying to try the new Smashbox O-Glow, a clear gel that magically transforms into a flushed glow on your skin (or so I've read at least), as well as Jo Malone's Acqua di Limone (a burst of lime for skin, air, or linens) and Annick Goutal's Neroli (an orange blossom scent).
But leave it to Nars to finally shake me out of my malaise. 
His Summer "Coquette" 2007 collection is neutral and pretty but hardly boring. This season he added three new eyeshadow cream duos, another single cream eyeshadow, 
two sheer lipsticks, a nude lipgloss, and three sparkling pressed powders.
Until my package arrives and I can offer a few personal comments and observations, here are descriptions in the meantime. Now that the orangey fake-bake look is officially over (and it's about time!), I think these shades would look gorgeous on gently sunkissed summer skin. Don't forget your SPF!
DUO CREAM EYESHADOWS
Pink Panther - Pink ice/Rose Gold
Summertime - Champagne/Sunset Gold
Madagascar - Satin nude/Smoky Quartz
CREAM EYESHADOW
Petula - Shimmering Terracotta
LIPSTICKS (SHEER FORMULA)
Sexual Healing - Shimmering pink blossom
Porte Vecchio - Sheer burgundy
LIPGLOSS
Striptease - Candlelight Nude
SPARKLING PRESSED POWDERS
Venus - Flesh toned with gold shimmer (for fair pink tones)
Macchu Picchu - Warm nude with gold shimmer (light-medium tones)
Gold Rush - Warm, deeper nude shade with gold shimmer (medium tones)
Meet CLEAN FRESH LAUNDRY.
Born 2005 to Dlish Fragrance Inc.
FRAGRANCE NOTES: Brazilian Orange, Rose Otto, Night Blooming White Jasmine, Cotton Blossom, and Mexican Lime.
THE BUZZ: Smells like dryer sheets or like you just pulled your sheets out from the dryer.
WHAT THEY SAY:
Now Smell This: "...it just smells like dryer sheets, which I take it is the general idea."
Stylephile.com: "The light fragrance blends lime, jasmine and other crisp notes, and illustrates Clean’s knack for chic understatement. Because no musk or floral will ever smell as good as a hot towel from your dryer."
Fashion Fling International: "Inspired by—duh—all things wash cycle, from warm towels pulled from the dryer to sheets drying in the sun, the CLEAN Fresh Laundry Eau de Parfum is the perfect way to wear your love of life's simple pleasures on your sleeve. Or, at the very least, your wrist."
(Okay, sense a pattern here?)
I wore this fragrance all week (amazing how far a sample can go!) to get a sense of how this scent and I got along. We're good friends now, but not soulmates -- we didn't forge a love connection, but we plan to hang out from time to time.
My first thought as I took my initial whiff was: Tide. 
Or at least that warm, clean, sweetness of laundry detergent. I was surprised to later find out about the lime and orange notes because they didn't register with me -- which is not necessarily a bad thing, because I am trying to veer away from anything obviously citrusy (my favorite type of scent) after all. I also wouldn't have guessed there was night-blooming jasmine in here; it's a fragrance I'm quite familiar with since I've grown it for years.
In about an hour the fragrance really warmed up on my skin, to the point where it was even a slightly bit sharp to the nose. Then it softened up really quickly, to where it just lingered on my skin, a baby-soft kind of clean smell. And then it quietly disappeared halfway through my day.
This is the kind of scent you wear when you don't want to offend anyone, especially inside a cramped elevator at work, or the kind you spritz on before you pull up your jeans and get ready to spend an active day outdoors. It's a casual fragrance -- you probably won't reach for it before a fancy night out. It reminds me in a way of being a kid, when mom would practically shower me with baby powder before sending me off to school (I grew up in a tropical country -- where hot, humid, and sticky doesn't easily lend to a fresh-out-of-the-shower feeling).
This is lovely in its own way and I certainly understand why it has a large number of devoted fans, but I don't wear fragrance just so I don't offend other people (not that I want to do so either); my scent has to say something about me -- how I'm feeling, at the very least. And Clean Fresh Laundry doesn't say much for me except that I like being clean. I also wonder if wearing this would make people think I simply added an extra dryer sheet to my laundry load. If so, it wouldn't be so bad, at least it would never make anyone wish that I run home and bathe instead.
Retail price: $76.00.
Next up: Lollia Breathe.
My mission this year is to break out of my fragrance rut -- or at least expand my horizons. It seems like I was more adventurous when I was younger -- or perhaps even more sultry and sophisticated, based on some of my former fragrance choices. Of course this isn't to say I didn't get hooked on the more popular scents of the day also; for instance in the early '80s I wore Lauren, Anais Anais, and Chanel No. 5. To this day all three fragrances evoke all-too-vivid memories of love found and lost, and crushing heartbreak.
I can name the fragrance that got me started on the fresh, crisp citrusy road I still prance upon: Calyx by Prescriptives. It was 1986: that sharp grapefruit note was love at first whiff (this was even before the scent was formally launched -- my helpful Prescriptives sales associate handed me a couple of pre-launch samples since I was a loyal customer at the time) -- and it loved me right back. Everyone demanded to know what I was wearing so they could buy it for themselves or for their girlfriends, and like a fool I told the truth until the day came I didn't know if it was me or some other chick I was smelling.
So I dropped the scent like it was rotten fruit and embraced Eau d'Hadrien by Annick Goutal and, later, Route du The. To this day, if you go through my baskets of fragrances you will find every single citrus note under the Mediterranean sun.
Thanks to the kind, helpful folks at Fragrances & More who sent me a package of lovely samples, I'm going to be trying out some fabulous new smells and hope I fall in love with one that obviously didn't fall from a fruit tree. If any of you fragrance bloggers are reading this, please feel free to suggest some of your favorites.
First up tomorrow: Clean Fresh Laundry.
I have extremely sensitive skin that's prone to redness and irritation. One week my bane is itchy, dry patches, and the next it's an oily T-zone. And yet -- despite all my epidermis-related woes, people often say I have really good skin. Now I don't use harsh acids on my face, I don't get microdermabrasion or peels, have never had cosmetic surgery, and I don't spend hundreds of dollars on one jar of face cream. What I do, however, is use sunscreen, cleanse my face at night, not smoke, and use facial products that work for me. This cream goes on lightly yet luxuriously, makes my skin feel gently moisturized, and even smells good. This works for me. 
Thanks to global warming, the climate has been freaky. Yesterday it's 97 degrees, today it's 87 and tomorrow is projected to be in the low '70s. And this is supposed to be Fall weather. So my scalp -- which has always been a complainer to begin with -- is going absolutely nuts. I've been a Kerastase fan for years now, ever since it whipped my hair into (healthy) shape. They have different lines for different needs -- and I've tried every single one because my head of hair has always been irritatingly high-maintenance. And now it's the head that's being bratty. Well, no longer.
I don't like designer logos conspi-cuously displayed on the apparel and accessories I wear. I never saw the point of spending a fortune just to brandish someone else's name anywhere on my person. It was love at first sight between me and Mulberry, one that's been long and lasting, and to this day I can never decide which of their bags are nearest and dearest to my heart. But I just saw their "Emmy" in chocolate and oak in their Darwin material (not pictured) and am not just in love, but in out-of-control lust. Must say penance now.
I can't ride a bike and couldn't possibly kick someone's ass if I tried (unless it would be to do so metaphorically -- and then I certainly could) -- but these boots would send a loud signal that no one had better mess with me. I prefer these in black, but all I could find was a photo of them in dark brown. What the heck -- I'd take them in this color, too. I'd love to pound the pavements in these, even if would only be on the wimpy suburban streets where I live.
Not too long ago I read that a snippy would-be-fashionista ridiculed a fellow partyphile because she wore the diffusion line "Marc by" instead of the much more expensive Marc Jacobs. Whatever. Obviously the snob hasn't heard how Target resurrected the fortunes of Mossimo or how all these other designer's designers are rushing to get their names into stores like H&M and the Gap. All I know is I love my "Marc by's" -- and I even get lots of compliments too! Now if only they came in Target price points as well...
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