As soon as I got the code last night, I pounced. I love Beach. A fresh, aquatic fragrance, Beach captures the essence of sparkling turquoise water and lush coconut married with juicy melon and a luminous base of lotus flower and sensual woods. It is divine, and, of course, especially this time of year.
I'm enjoying my new Clé de Peau eye shadow quads. It's ironic, though, that today I'm wearing one of last spring's introductions. I used the large portion of a flesh-toned shade to cover my lid under the crease and then blended in the prettiest teal green shade into the outside corner. Since I'm wearing black and white today, my eye shadow jazzed up my look.
I do have some knee news, but it will probably stun you as it did me yesterday, when I went for my second opinion. After four emotional months (plus) of believing that my bionic knee had come loose from the bone (per the doctor's diagnosis), I learned that the prosthetic itself is fine. It is still attached to the bone on both ends. My ligaments around the knee have stretched! They call it ligamentous laxity. The good news is that they can cut into my knee again (well, relatively good) and replace the plastic "spacer" between the two metal piece parts, which will make my knee equal the ligament length properly, and all should be fine. The recovery is not supposed to be gruesome as it was on the original replacement, so I should be able to follow with a right knee replacement after a relatively short period of time. My right knee has reached the agonizing stage pain-wise, so I am ready.
I was stunned when I got this news from my surgeon's own partner! How could two accomplished physicians - both on the best doctor's list - come to such entirely different conclusions? I asked the politically insensitive question to the second surgeon, "Will you do my surgery?" He said yes - that the first doctor wouldn't be upset. So it looks like I'll be going in for new plastic. I'll wait until summer is over since he said a delay would not harm anything. He actually said the surgery wasn't totally necessary, but I don't want to live with the pain. He recommended I keep going to physical therapy to strengthen my thigh muscles.
It's time for our weekend sharing, the Friday Forum. I love this part of our week. What new products did you discover this week? We have all seen the upcoming Tom Ford collection, so I think we can skip that 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.
Happy weekend!
Photo courtesy of kelticclothing.co.uk
Knee problems are awful! :( Wishing you all the best.
ReplyDeleteI've been loving my new Chanel quad in Tisse Vendome. The new formula is divine.
ReplyDeleteCan you please share links to the new Tom Ford A/W makeup? I've scoured the web in search of information, and I can only find last fall's release.
Hi CG! Glad to hear better news about your knee. No, I am not shocked as my daughter went through something similar after four surgeries on her knees. It is disappointing though that you can't have confidence in your first doctor.
ReplyDeleteMoving on to makeup, I have slowed down on my purchases. My last purchase was the Sharon Osborne eye shadow quad. I am eyeing the Cle de Peau and had the Chanel one in my cart when I read your review. I am thinking I need to go to NM and see everything. I probably would have bypassed the Cle de Peau without your review. They are all beautiful.
I was also wondering which new Creed fragrance you had chosen. I know they are being pre-sold at Neiman Marcus. I was sent a sample of the Iris Tuberose and I love it.
Thanks so much for your blog CG, I enjoy reading it daily with my morning coffee! Hang in there, we are thinking of you!
I am on my second go-round through all 9 of the new CHANEL eye quads. This time is better than the first! They are different, sultry. The look is totally different than that from other quads, even CHANEL. I love them and I am glad I have them all. Now for your knee: Glad for the good news! I have been totally into fitness for years. I recommend the leg press for every woman and cardio on the Stairmaster Stepmill. Both make your quads and hams rock-hard, and your knees healthy. It is not easy, and of course it requires an effort. But good health and fitness are worth it. I use a leg press that has 2 different levels. I really hit it, with heavy plates. My husband helps me when I do the high level press. I also recommend squats and deadlifts.
ReplyDeleteHi Charlestongirl,
ReplyDeleteThat's wonderful news about the knee. Not that needing another surgery is wonderful, but when you consider all the other possibilities, it looks like you have one of the easier fixes. You know we'll all be wishing you well and fast recovery when the time comes. In the meantime, though, please take it easy on that knee. It sounds like the condition could make you more prone to taking a tumble and that would be like adding insult to injury.
We all know our beautiful Charlestongirl is shy about showing products applied on her face so for those of you who were drooling over her arm swatches of CdP's new 305 palette (I was!) and would like to see how it looks on the eyes, check out Candice at The Makeup Box. I can't get over how smooth and luminous these shadows look on her. If you scroll down a ways, you can also find her arresting interpretation of Vénitien.
The only thing I've purchased this week has been Rouge Coco Shine in Monte Carlo. I needed a soft red, and because the weather has been so hot lately, I wanted something that would look light and fresh. Other than that, I haven't been in purchase mode. I'm still trying various new looks with my Chanel quads and find that the more I work with them, the more I like them. I'm particularly enchanted with how well the color themed quads work for me. Vénitien (green), Riviera (blue), and Cambon (purple) can create a soft, hazy wash of color that is both tasteful and flattering. I knew the more neutral selections would be a slam dunk for me, but I was pleasantly surprised with how much I like the colored ones :-)
Hi Eleanor Grace,
There are some beautiful product pictures on Sweet Makeup Temptations forum. Also, check out Full Time Ford and Really Ree. Between the three sites, you can see the entire collection :-) Just Google Tom Ford Makeup Fall 2014 and all these sites will come up with the link to take you directly to that particular post.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Stay cool!
Wow, it's great that you got a second opinion and that he had such a different outcome! In my 20s, I took anything a doctor told me as gospel and ended up doing a very expensive/not covered by insurance procedure that turned out to be completely unnecessary. Lesson learned.
ReplyDeleteI've really been trying to slow down on beauty purchases to focus on furnishing my new condo. Thank you SO much for the NEST code as I've been looking at their reed diffusers, but was hesistating due to price. Beach is one of the scents that interested me, so I had to get one. I'm going to put it in the den near the front entry so I'll hopefully get a whiff of it every time I come in the door.
Has anyone seen the Living Proof PhD set (full-size shampoo, conditioner, and styling treatment for $45) at their Nordstrom? I hesitated and it sold out online. They took down the listing yesterday so I couldn't even get the product number to call around.
Maybe this weekend I'll use my free Uber trip code and head out to Tysons to check out the Nordstrom sale in-person. And visit Space NK - I've become obsessed with Lipstick Queen Saint lipsticks and would love to actually play with them instead of guessing colors online.
Have a great weekend everyone!
I second the request to share new Tom Ford A/W makeup :))
ReplyDeleteCan you review Vain Pursuits? I've started to hear a lot about them
Go here for Tom Ford: http://www.fulltimeford.com/2014/05/08/sneak-peek-tom-ford-beauty-fall-2014-traceless-perfecting-foundation-black-cherry/
ReplyDeleteEmily, I don't know what Vain Pursuits is.
ReplyDeleteHi there, I'm a new reader! Hope your knee is feeling better today. I did have a question for you. I received the "final call" email from LMdB VIP subscription service. Did you join this year? Or are you holding off as your post last month seem to suggest? I would love to hear your thoughts after you received the last (surprise) Kaleidoscope.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for the great content!
Hi CG, glad to hear the good news about your knee. I hope the surgery offers you some relief. Keeping up with the PT is probably the best advice - anything to strengthen the muscles will likely help.
ReplyDeleteI did something a bit dangerous this week. I got a generous sample of La Prairie's new tinted moisturizer. Unfortunately for my wallet I am in love with it. I have been using Eve Lom but they are like night and day. The La Prairie goes on like a dream and offers such nice coverage and evening out of my skin tone. It is clearly a superior product (and should be for the price). I have never used anything like it. I am leery of the $100 price tag but I will probably take the plunge.
In terms of new products coming up on the horizon I am very curious about the new Chanel loose powder foundation that is supposed to hit counters in September. It sounds like just my kind of product.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Here is another link for some great pictures and the campaign photo for Tom Ford. She just put them up. http://chicprofile.com/2014/07/tom-ford-flawless-complexion-collection-for-fall-2014.html#more-93001
ReplyDeleteSookhyun,
ReplyDeleteI finally caved and subscribed. The Culte du Solaire Kaleidoscope Face Kit flipped me. It was so pretty, I decided to roll the dice. I hope I'm not sorry.
An update - the new Tom Ford foundation and concealer are now available at neimanmarcus.com! The color products have not yet landed.
ReplyDeleteI'm familiar with agonizing knew pain and you have to do what you have to do! All the best for a speedy recovery. It's encouraging that this new doctor will do the surgery.
ReplyDeleteLaura in NYC
Hi CG! I also caved at the last minute and signed up again for the Le Metier subscription program- I did really enjoy it last year! I hope everything works out with your knee. I was just up in your area for my mother's knee replacement and the recovery is moving along albeit slowly. I looked at the fall Tom Ford swatches and I am excited for the eye quad and am intrigued by the cheek duos. Hope you are having a good weekend!
ReplyDelete-Sara
Best of luck with your knee.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the NEST code. I just placed an order.
I also ordered the Chanel Tisse Venetien from Chanel.com. It says backordered so I hope it doesn't take extremely long to come back in stock.
Have a wonderful Sunday!