The Friday Forum - November 2

One of the prettiest photos I saw as Sandy moved into New York was the one above (see update below - turns out if was fake). Who could have known that the storm would leave this in its wake.

Our week has been dominated by Sandy, but it will be years - if ever - before some recover. The pictures and stories have left me with incredible sadness for the many victims. There's not much more we can say. About all we can do from afar is remember to help those in need by contributing to the charities that are providing aid. The needs - for humans and animals - are great, and we can send money, even if we can't personally send fuel or pump out basements. Our governments, federal and state, must do that. I think they are up to the job. Katrina taught us many lessons; one is the importance of the role of the federal government as we begin to recover from natural disasters. It's important to all of us.

You know I'm not a big fan of celebrity spokespeople, but I got a charge out of Julianne Moore's comments after Sandy. The recently appointed L’Oréal Paris spokeswoman told WWD she had, "ventured uptown from her powerless 11^thStreet apartment to use her brother-in-law’s car as a charging station for her cell phone. I’m sitting in a car on the Upper East Side with my phone plugged into a cigarette lighter." I felt a kinship with Julianne. She's one of us! She will be a great asset for L’Oréal.

It was a slow beauty week for me. Plenty came in, but we've had cloud cover and occasional drizzle almost continuously - the aftermath of Sandy - preventing me from taking photos. Charlie is still hanging close, trying not to leave my side. The little darling kept me warm during my own power outage, spreading out from my waist to my knees to sleep - continuously. He was a welcome heat source as I napped under blankets trying to pass the time. He seems to have missed the part about the heat coming back on. He still wants to cuddle continuously. It's pretty cute. I got my power back at 10:00 pm Tuesday. Wednesday morning, I awakened to find him cuddled near my neck, and I had both my arms wrapped around him in a big "C." I have no memory of doing that overnight.

Sephora's Friends & Family V.I.B. sale will start on November 8. As many of you know, they have already had the original F&F sale - you had to know a Sephora employee really well to get the discount code. At first Sephora had announced that there would be no traditional F&F sale this year. They must have caved. I was certainly unhappy to read the sale was off. I know no Sephora sales associates. I shop online, spend a small fortune, and seldom bother with the store. How would I have ever found someone to give me a code?

In the interests of full disclosure, a blogger who belongs to the Beauty Blog Coalition works at Sephora and shared her code. I was able to order once last week because she was very generous. Not every V.I.B. has been as lucky.

Make sure to order early when the sale starts. Often, the most desirable items sell out. They will be restocked, but not until the sale ends. Do you plan to order? What's on your list?

Last night, I was playing a silly word game with myself. Use a beauty brand name (or part of one), combine it with another word, limit yourself to five syllables, and coin a word or term. Want to play? My favorites were Métier mania, Guerlove, and Lauder Luscious.

Let's talk about your week of beauty. It's time for the Friday Forum, our open chat. I love this part of our week. Have you selected your favorite holiday collection - and purchased a few new treasures? What new products did you discover this week? Did you find any deals you couldn't resist? Are you using a fabulous product and want to sing its praises? Did you find a beauty product disappointing? Do you have a question others might be able to answer? Want to talk about skin care? What's new in your life? Just use the comments. Don't be shy. Just make sure to ask any question you might have over the weekend. By early the next week, most (not all) readers will have moved on.

Don't forget there are two giveaway contests this week.

• Sephora Favorites in the Glow set at this link.
•  An impromptu giveaway of M·A·C's Baby Blooms Lip Bag here.

The deadline for both is Saturday, November 3, at midnight. Good luck!

Update: As you can read in the comments, the photo at the top was man-made.  Too bad. It's a really cool photo. I had seen a version with a cat in the clouds. That one was cute. I'm torn between leaving it up and taking it down.

Photos courtesy of times.com, cms.montgomerycollege.edu, and a photo provided to WWD by Julianne Moore's spokespeople