I find it hard to believe that Thursday is the 4
th of July - even though the weather is telling me it's August. For days, we have had and are expected to continue to have severe late-afternoon thunderstorms. Right now, it's clouding up for today's round. Driving home from work Thursday was bad, but Friday it was even worse. It was kind of scary as lightening crashed all around me as I made my way home in torrential rain and horribly heavy traffic. When I got home, as I noted in the comments on The Friday Forum, I had no power.
I went to sleep, for lack of anything else to do in the dark, around 7:30 pm. Even my cellular reception was bad, so I couldn't surf the Internet on my iPad. I'm surprised I could sleep. It was very hot in my house, and I couldn't open the windows because the noise from my neighbor's generator was unbearable. I awakened at 11:15 freezing because the air conditioner had come back on with the power, and I had nodded off with no sheet to cover me. Fortunately, Charlie was huddled against me, so one side of my body was warm.
I was able to get over to Neiman Marcus yesterday, where I saw the YSL Beauté Fall 2013 Collection. There are some pretty colors, along with the now-essential-for-every-line BB Cream. I purchased two pieces and will show them to you in the coming day.
Lancôme had a big center-aisle display of the new Alber Elbaz Collection. While the new palettes looked lovely, I didn't stop. I will get to them later - if at all. The cutesy design of the mascaras does nothing for me.
I saw and tried the new Tom Ford Atelier d'Orient Collection, four new Private Blend fragrances - Shanghai Lily, Plum Japonais, Fleur de Chine, and Rive d'Ambre - inspired by Asia. My favorite by far is Fleur de Chine, and I'll be featuring it this week.
I also got a peek at photos for Chantecaille's Fall 2013 collection. This week, I'll show you my photos of photos if I must. I still hope to get the official photos before I resort to poor ones, such as the one above.
For a limited time (from what I was told), CREED is making its Royal Exclusives available in 30 ml travel sizes. Traditionally, the Royal Exclusives have been available only in 250 ml flacons, which are pricey. For example, my beloved Jardin d'Amalfi costs $640. Now, you can purchase a smaller edition for $225. That will allow many who found the flacons price-prohibitive to experience these wonderful fragrances. I highly recommend you drop by your favorite CREED counter to sample and try them.
No matter what your politics, if you are a woman, you had to be enraged by this morning's article in the
New York Times about Republicans painting Hillary Clinton as old and over the hill. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader who is no spring chicken himself, ridiculed
the 2016 Democratic field as “a rerun of
The Golden Girls," referring
to Mrs. Clinton and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who is 70. Others were quoted as having similar feelings. Apparently, Rush Limbaugh asked his audience in April whether the American
people “want to vote for somebody, a woman, and actually watch a woman
get older before their eyes on a daily basis?”
I cannot even believe these men are saying such things out loud! Paula Dean was fried last week for admitting under oath that she had used a reprehensible word. Is this sexism and age discrimination not equally reprehensible? Women everywhere should be outraged. This transcends politics. I don't understand how men - even old men - get a pass on such outrageous statements. We age. We get grey hair; so do they. We get wrinkles; so do they. Is it distinguished on them, but a liability for us? I'd like to know what you think.
Update 7/1: I am not publishing comments that are overtly political (or religious), one way or the other. My comments were about age and sex discrimination, and I started with, "No matter what your politics." I'm sorry if some of you feel unheard, but I cannot allow the comments here to become a political forum. While I used examples of Republican men, it was based on a New York Times article published yesterday on the front page - fresh on my mind. I'm sure that there are Democrats and Independents equally guilty of such behavior and speech. It's a shame that it's 2013, and it's still acceptable, apparently, for men to make such statements about women.
Photos by Best Things in Beauty, courtesy of CREED and teclasap.com.br, or source unknown at top of feature
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19 comments:
I had not heard the comments on Ms. Clinton. Sadly I'm not shocked, but am outraged. I could and have gone on and on, but will not do that. It makes me sad for the human race to see how horribly women are treated. We are not less, no matter what anyone says, we are not less. On a lighter note, I truly enjoy, and appreciate you blog. I can only afford the occasional high end treat, but love to see what is out there, and read your thoughts.
The sort of ageism discussed above is disgusting, but what's much worse is the acceptance of it by men and even some women. Regardless of politics, I think a man in her position would be revered for his experience, not looked down on for his age. It is sad to see women of a certain age group looked on this way. I may be 29, but I find this type of discrimination deplorable.
Yes, I too read the NYT article on Hillary Clinton. There is a growing hatred of women in this country. Almost all of it is fanned by men. Just consider all the anti abortion legislation going on! And here's why: You hate what you fear. Think about it! Women are increasingly the heads of households, the bigger breadwinners. That makes them more to be feared than ever. But I take heart that times are changing, too, as with gay rights. But all these issues bring out the haters. Oh, the haters. The worst haters are the ones who thump the bible the hardest. Jesus is cringing. Meanwhile, I actually pity Paula Deen. Her remarks were wrong and wrong in a way she just did not understand. But she's from the South, and one needs to stand in her shoes for a moment to understand that. Forgive her! I don't do her recipes or such, too high-fat and high-sugar. But forgive her, please. Now on to makeup: this is what makes my life worth living, Cg! I was at the gym Saturday, 50 miles from home, and hoping that when I returned to my car after my workout there would be a message on my cell from Jessica at my CHANEL counter in another direction another 40 miles from home that the new fall collection had arrived. No such luck. But then as I was turning onto the freeway to head home, the phone rang and it was Jessica. Wow, thanks God! So I drove home, raced into the house to arm myself with $ (plenty) and Cg's lipstick swatches, and off I hit the trail again. When I arrived, Jessica told me that 2 of the lipsticks did not have testers. But instead of sticking maverick colors into the awaiting slots, Jessica had simply added additional colors of the same colors. Honest! I ended up spending $720. I bought all the available crème blushes (5; #6 will be out in August); every lipstick except Secret and Instinct; 2 of the Mystere quads, both single shadows, the eye pencil and the mascara and 2 of the polishes. I plan to go back for more this week, and I want to buy from another new collection--the movie star one--don't know the name. I agree with you about the Lancôme stuff. Meanwhile, my LMDB Zeitgeist is en route and I have a preorder at NM Beverly Hills for the Castaways. Think that's enough for a while? Never!
The Lancôme palettes are the same colors as the permanent ones. They just have childish drawings on the packaging - I'll pass. Same for the mascara.
We have had our share of severe thunderstorms here in Western PA.
I hope your commute to work are safe and go smoothly. Anxious to see some of the new fall lines. That's a terrible comment about Hillary Clinton, I think some men are jealous
of successful and powerful women.
And don't forget about Alec Baldwin,
how did he get away with his twitter
rampage this week!
And McCain? Have they forgotten about McCain? It's incensing that such things can be said. It just shows how little has changed: should anyone, in 2013, care that she is a woman? And her age? Really? Would one want a novice to run a country? Women still get a bum deal. An article was just published saying how young Canadian women are more educated than their male counterparts, but still continue to be paid less. What a joke!
And I agree: sexism and ageism is just as unacceptable as racism. I guess if Paula Deen were a man, the remarks would have been explained away?
Nemo: nice haul!
I got a TATCHA sampler set this week. I will finally find out what it's all about!
I read your blog all the time but don't comment much - sorry about that! Glad your new job is going well. I hear you on the power issue - I'm in the Midwest and we lose power fairly often in the summer due to storms, and I also can't open windows because my neighbors immediately start a generator (they don't even wait 5 minutes) outside our bedroom window! Glad yours came back on fairly fast. Thanks for your blog!
I have the NYT, but didn't get to it yet - we had guests for brunch. I will read it...but I just gasped out loud when I read Rush Limbaugh's comment!
Just listen to Dr. Laura one day...If she had her way, she would set women's rights back 100 years. It's enough to drive me to imaging violent acts against her!
The vilification and subjugation of women has a long history that is not, unfortunately, going to be put to rights anytime soon. Although our society has, for the most part, abandoned the 1950's ideal of ". . . barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.", women are still regarded as second class citizens by many segments of society. Our ability to excel outside of the home is frequently challenged and viewed with suspicion. Our ideas and opinions are often belittled. Many of our accomplishments are either usurped or smeared with derision. But, our failures? Our shortcomings? Those things are loudly proclaimed for all the world to hear. And, heaven forbade we commit the ultimate sin--we grow old. Even in aging, women are viewed as inferior beings.
Although we cannot expect the liberation events of the past fifty years to undo thousands of years of unequal treatment and status, we should be able to continue advancing towards equality without being subjected to personal attacks of the most heinous sort. We have emerged from our cacoon of compliant complacency and have proven ourselves to be equally capable of moving and shaping the society in which we live. Unfortunately, that scares the s--t out of some men. It shouldn't. They should be happy to have womankind willing to help shoulder the load. Think of how much better our society would be if we had the full contribution of our entire society--not just the male half of it. I will step down off my soapbox now.
Good wishes for a wonderful week as you all begin preparing for the 4th.
It's men like this that wreck things for the decent men. If men don't like the fact that women are heads of their own households, they should crack down on the violent , controlling ones who frankly, have brought this upon themselves. Women will persevere, continue to earn diplomas and degrees and march forward. We can't be stopped, and we won't be controlled so men might as well get used to it. If they want to be included in marriage, family etc., they'd better start behaving better. Of course, I'm not referring to men like my husband and two sons who are very aware and comfortable with women's talents and abilities.
I'm so sorry to hear about your power outage Friday night, CG.
It is outrageous to hear such rude things said about Hillary Clinton. As you mentioned, just last week it was Paula Deen under attack. And to top that off, the media is dragging her age into it, as well. It's as if our society has developed a disdain towards powerful and successful women. The author Anne Rice did speak up concerning Paula Deen and now even she is being ridiculed. After doing so a reporter wrote this about Anne Rice:
"Then Rice busted out the stupid-is-as-stupid-does defense: "It's so easy to persecute an older, overweight, unwise, crude, ignorant woman who may very well be a good person at heart who has achieved a great deal in her life," she wrote. "So easy to vilify her and hate her and try to destroy her life. Woe to anyone today who is not slender, young, clever and politically correct." ~~end of quote.
I totally agree with what Anne Rice wrote in her last sentence. Except, it doesn't really seem to matter whether a woman is slender or not--if she is ageing in our topsy-turvy world--the totally normal act of getting older seems to be our greatest sin. It's extremely upsetting! I'll get off my soap box now.
We are looking forward to the Fourth in hopes that our horrendous heat wave will retreat to normal desert summer temps. It's sad here in the Vegas Valley. An elderly man died yesterday because his home A/C unit went out.
Back to a makeup related subject, my favorite summer foundation has surprised me. I usually don't like a Matte foundation. But, i bought Makeup Forever's Matt Velvet+ and it is amazing. It stays put and doesn't melt off my face.
Take care! I'm happy to hear that you are enjoying your new job. Have a happy and safe Fourth of July!!
Hi CG! I hope your first week at work has been good, sorry to hear about the commute. I am absolutely LIVID about those callous, sexist comment. It is obvious that double standards still happen and people still tolerate it!!! I really now think that it should start with us women. I now no longer laugh & even react to jokes involving sex, race, any kind of discrimination. In fact, I must admit that I used to, just because I feel if I don't I won't fit in. Now I just leave the table. We cannot tolerate such things anymore, not in this day and age. Not for the sake of our children & generation.
P.S. Meant to also add I'm looking forward for the Tom Ford review!
We are half the world's population, and we have been abused for too long.
I know how much prejudice I have faced as a scholar. There was a professor who dismissed me for a scholarship arguing that I was "a woman, and the kind who takes too much care of her hair". He said it out loud. I got my scholarship afterwards (feeling totally second class), but he was never punished, even if he said that during a recorded meeting. Now these things don't affect me much anymore - mostly because I'm happily old, but it bothers me that many women might give up a scientific career because of these guys who, for some reason, happen to be very unsmart (let's leave it like that).
I'm dying to hear your thoughts on the YSL BB cream, hope you will review it.
As someone who's plus-sized and have received prejudice all my life for it, I really can't stress enough that someone's body is NOT public property. Let people do what makes them happy, geez.
I know I'm pretty horrible at communicating my point, so I'll let these two articles speak for me:
http://jezebel.com/5908712/what-were-really-talking-about-when-we-talk-about-hillary-clinton-without-makeup
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23086184
I think the first article has the best quote I've seen in a while: "You may not agree with a woman, but to criticize her appearance — as opposed to her ideas or actions — isn't doing anyone any favors, least of all you. Insulting a woman's looks when they have nothing to do with the issue at hand implies a lack of comprehension on your part, an inability to engage in high-level thinking. You may think she's ugly, but everyone else thinks you're an idiot."
I love the Lancome palette! Their packaging, too! I should be getting one of those now.
Unfortunately the double standard still exists and is alive and well in 2013. I am a child of the 80's and I don't remember people snarky comments being made about Reagan's age when he was elected President and he was 69.
Hi CG,
It's obvious to me, as a woman in my mid 50's, that women are not allowed to age gracefully in our society and get credited for our competence, courage, intelligence, experience, all of which Hilary Clinton has in spades compared to anyone of any age, gender or race. Nobody seemed to have a problem with Ronald Regan running for a second term; he is still revered by many Americans. There IS a double standard and thank you for making the point. Beauty blogs (which let's face it are mostly by and for women) should not mean we set aside our brains from intelligent dialogue about important issues that affect all women.
Ha.. Wide screen gave us numerous shirtless 60+ guys (Arnold, Sean, Dolph and more and more), quite often with a sexual message (remember Entrapment?) and somebody dares to nag about politician getting a few extra wrinkles?! Knowing that statistically ladies outlive men by decades? Ridiculous.. I'd say that should not be tolerated.
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