Monday This and That

Those little roses growing behind my mailbox refuse to quit for the season. Sometimes I wonder if my mailbox post, which you can see at the right in my photo, protects the blooms. I cherish that scraggly, spunky little rose. It helps me hold onto Indian summer.

I didn't get a chance to write Sunday This and That last week, and I almost flaked out on you this weekend. With an extra day to rest - and I needed a few days of rest - I have a few words left in me.

Charleston, Savannah, and I have had a hard time adjusting to Eastern Standard Time. They give me the mealtime signal an hour early. I know they are wondering why I won't feed them. I eased them into the time change a day at a time, but they aren't buying it.

I'm having trouble too. I'm going to bed way too early. My eyes start to close around 7:30 pm, and I usually give in. I have been able to keep myself awake with Facebook on a few nights, catching up with the huge perfume-loving community, but on other nights, it's been lights out at 8:00. I can still sleep until 4:15 am, my standard wake-up hour, but my body doesn't feel any more rested. Perhaps I can leave Daylight Savings Time behind this week. Are you having a tough time adjusting?

Every day, I think about those in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut who still don't have power and heat. I believe the utilities are doing everything they can to bring back power and phone service, but some houses are so badly damaged, it won't matter. Where will all of those people go, with their valuables and pets? I wonder why I haven't heard talk yet of trailers - yes, those despised, but necessary, trailers in which people lived after Hurricane Katrina. Where are they? They couldn't all have been destroyed (did they all have formaldehyde in them?). How can we get them to the affected areas? Surely there are people who can't be accommodated in the hotels in the area. Where will they live while their homes are rebuilt? Will their homes be rebuilt? Are the insurance companies taking care of them? So many questions, and so few answers. I hope to see a dramatic announcement this week that could lessen the fears of the most severely affected. The most I can do is continue to give. I've donated to charities (actually not the Red Cross) that are doing their best for the people and animals displaced by the storm. I hope you will give too - even small donations will help.

Retailers are worried that Sandy will dampen holiday shopping. Who will buy a winter makeup wardrobe or new fragrance when they have to pay for flood damage or tree removal at home? WWD reported that most retailers have downgraded holiday expectations from gains of 6% in beauty to more modest 3-4% increase. I assume those figures are national, not regional. Otherwise, they would be even more pessimistic.

Can you believe that sometime in December we will start to see resort and spring makeup collections arrive at the counter? It happened last year, and I expect it this year. I'm wondering if I can be a little more selective than I was last year, when the collections wowed me. I'm not hopeful about my self-control.

What do you know about vbeauté? I'm seeing it in store catalogs and reading about it in magazines. Founded by Julie Macklowe, who is married to a real estate scion, the line is carried by Bergdorf Goodman.

Here is what I learned on her Web site, edited slightly...

Before the age of 30, Julie Macklowe managed a multimillion dollar hedge fund, was a fashion socialite, a mom, achieved “It Girl” status, and lived an on-the-go lifestyle. Her story is familiar: rich socialite, can't find products that meet her needs, finds science, and away she goes.  

After years of searching for skin-care products that could make a difference, meet her daily multitasking needs, and be luxurious, sensual, yet results-driven, she decided nothing like that existed and began her journey to "reinvent serious skincare for the modern woman." Intense research and extensive networking - the tools of her financial world success - helped Julie find the rarest botanicals and the most advanced skincare biotechnology that would focus on the dramatic delay of aging skin. Julie found and partnered with CRB High Performance Lab of Geneva, Switzerland, a world leader in innovative skin treatment, and started working with their top molecular scientists. These scientists introduced Julie to the Swiss botanical stem-cells from the Alpine rose plant, one of the longevity botanicals that have developed near-miraculous anti-aging abilities as they’ve adapted over centuries to the harsh conditions such as cold, UV exposure, and severe dryness in the High Alps.

BioCellular Peptide (BCP) is an age preventer through a signaling complex, which protects the integrity of cell structure, stimulates collagen, enhances cellular energy, and promotes cellular longevity. This natural peptide is rich in bioactive tripeptides and naturally occurring carbohydrates, derived from nicotiana sylvestris stem cell culture. BCP, an innovative active, is a powerful, natural anti-free radical agent and a DNA guardian, inducing new collagen production and protecting the existing collagen from degradation. BCP is a mixture of tripeptides and sugars deriving from the extracellular matrix of the plant. Got that?

Macklowe's chemists were able to infuse the original recipe with 21st century biochemical power that makes our exclusive vComplex a breakthrough. vComplex allows healing, anti-aging and DNA-protecting abilities that track with your skin’s own cellular needs. No matter your age, climate, stress level, or lifestyle, v gives your skin exactly what it craves. vbeauté helps correct the sins of the past and protect the skin of your future. Prevent premature aging before it has a chance to happen; put time control in your control. V is your victory over time.

Her products have clever names (Eye Never, Buying Time) to go with their luxury - but not outrageous - pricing. I'd like to try them, but I'm wondering how many different lines with state-of-the-art skin-care ingredients I need. How many do any of us need? In my opinion, there's not much room for a new skin-care line in a very crowded field, and it's going to take more than a well-known name and descriptions of clinical studies (with no indication of the numbers of participants or methods of research) to turn vbeauté into the next best thing.

Please let us know if you've tried vbeauté. I'm curious, but I haven't been curious enough to pull out my wallet. My skin-care regimen is already extremely expensive. What would I replace?

That's it for now. It's time to reheat my Chinese takeout. I'm sure eating dinner will knock me out for the night.

Photo at top by Best Things in Beauty; vbeauté photo courtesy of vbeauté