Why didn't I think of that?

Usually I don't pay a lot of attention to the emails I get from Hermès. They have a tendency to make me feel like a have-not.

But this is brilliant. I could put an orange tube over my head and go out as a Twilly box!

Or use real Twilly boxes instead of going to the trouble of buying and carving pumpkins.

Oh, whom am I kidding, anyway? My job isn't to wear a costume--it's to play Maid of Honor for my daughter as she gets ready for four different Halloween events. And I'm so glad I never got rid of my circa 1992 black lace up ankle boots, because she'll be wearing them.

Recent faves, or Friday Fun

What I'm Reading

Une Femme made a video to teach us two ways to tie a long scarf.

Deb's post at No Nonsense Beauty has convinced me to try Retin-A again.

Sally at Already Pretty ran a thought-provoking post on age-appropriate dressing. I don't know how that whippersnapper got so smart, but you should definitely check it out.

The New York Times published Dominique Browning's "Why Can't Middle-Aged Women Have Long Hair" and so far, 718 commenters have weighed in.

Where I'm Shopping:

Talbot's is running a special sale today only, from 12:00 to 3:00. They're offering 30 percent of all tops, tees, and sweaters. The offer is good on-line and in stores. The code is TOPS30.

Did you know Saks is running a Friends and Family sale? Until October 24, you can get 20 percent off clothes, 15 percent off accessories, and even 10 percent off perfume and makeup. The code is FRIEND7.

Sephora's Friends & Family Sale is on now, too. Get 20 percent off an online order by using the code FF2010. So don't buy any makeup at Saks.

Need a new coat? J. Crew is offering 20 percent off women's outerwear.

Why I'm pouting

British Beauty Blogger has a post up about Selfridge's Beauty Advent Calendar, and it's making me feel like the Little Match Girl. I'm no fan of the brown crayon-flavored chocolate in my kids' Advent calendars, so little bitty beauty samples? Sold! But Selfridge's doesn't do on-line orders to the US.  The big meanies.

Enjoy your weekend!

Is Urban Decay seriously trying to bring back body glitter? Seriously?

Because I am a famous beauty and style blogger as well as a compulsive shopper, I don't just get the usual email from online retailers. I also get flooded with PR pitches as well as newsletters from every beauty and style board I've ever joined. Which means that every time a new product comes out, I'm going to hear about it at least three times.

Which is three times more than I want to hear about Urban Decay's "new" highlighting product.

I remember when I first moved to the suburbs and had to deal with massive numbers of trick or treaters. At the end of the night, there were a few bold teenagers who were willing to risk being told they were too old to go trick or treating.

I was happy to see them, because it meant I'd be able to dump the last of the candy--less for the kids who just showed up, more for the kids who had made at least some effort to dress up, even if it was just a quick insta-costume.

Now, ten years ago, the insta-costume for teenaged girls was to put a couple of flocks of baby butterfly clips in their hair and smear on a lot of body glitter.

Can it be 2000 again already?

If you can stand to spend the 1:30, watch this video as one of the co-founders of Urban Decay applies sparkly highlighter all over a young woman whose smooth, perfect skin makes her look like a Bratz Doll, albeit slightly more animated.

http://www.urbandecay.com/index.cfm?LID=NEW2766

Ladies, I know you're not even tempted. Just use this video as an object lesson, and continue to say no to glitter.

I swear, if I wake up screaming in the night, it'll be because I had a nightmare about being caught in public with glitter down the middle of my nose. And on my neck. And sternum.

Urban Decay, you have a lot to answer for. I mean, come on--weren't you just selling all that glittery makeup, like eight years ago? Like I'm going to fall for that played out shiznit.

Lucky for you, your pencil eyeliners are the bomb-diggity.

It's been a glorious week, featuring a not-so-glorious looking Poppy

I met a psychiatrist on Monday and mentioned that I'm a style blogger. I'm sure he was all "delusions of grandeur" and "psychotic episode," because people, I looked like crap.

That's because I've spent most of the week--which has been absolutely perfect in terms of early fall weather--setting up the sewing and crafts room for my church's annual rummage sale.

Image borrowed from carla-at-home

This is not a crafts blog, and those of you who have been reading for a while will notice that I don't tend to spend a lot of time talking about sewing, quilting, embroidery, or needlepoint. You might be wondering why a glamorous style blogger like me is spending hours pricing packages of rickrack.

OK, I would totally volunteer for the makeup and skincare room, except they don't have one.

But really, the whole thing is Wendy's fault. See, I went to the rummage sale with her last year, and she bought out the sewing room. She walked out of there with something like her 14th sewing machine and several bushels of Liberty fabric, plus reams of seam binding, interfaces, and other sewing effluvia. This year she's too busy having an addition added to her house to volunteer, so somehow--don't ask me how, it's a mystery--I'm doing it instead.

At moments like this, I wonder why, when Jen Lancaster was researching volunteer opportunities, she didn't just follow me around. The way I look at it, volunteer jobs are kudzu, and my time is the southern landscape. They stick to me like burrs. They're as inevitable as white dog hair on a pair of black pants. Jen would have polished off her research in a couple of days.

Speaking of black pants and Jen Lancaster, a bunch of us will be going to a book signing tomorrow to meet Lisa Birnbach, editor of The Official Preppy Handbook and her recent follow-up, True Prep.

I'll be eating lunch with Wendy and Jen and Stacey as well as some other friends of mine that you probably don't know because they're not all over the internet.

The good news is that I've lost 10 pounds since August, and can just get into my favorite black pants. I don't know what else I'm wearing, though. I'm thinking a pink cashmere twinset from Brooks Brothers with an Hermes scarf with pink and green in it. I think that would be preppy enough.

If not, I can always add a string of pearls.

Pour le weekend

Mr. Buxom and I have nothing planned for the weekend, and we couldn't be happier. It means two family movie nights, extra time reading blogs, and time to finish getting the fall wardrobe front and center. That includes accessories.

Last August when blackbird and I were playing hookey* at BlogHer, I bought a Hermes fluide scarf. Which is leaving me feeling a little flummoxed. Blackbird put the scarf on all kinds of ways, and it always looked fabulous. And on a French website, I see that this kind of scarf is considered

Fluid and shifting, allowing a wide variety of ways to be worn, silk jersey is now recognized as a must. 

Luckily I hadn't seen this video, or I would have decided that unless I'm 24, and a flat-chested ukelele-playing Parisienne, there would be no point in buying it.



However, have you seen this Liberty series on how to tie a scarf? Here's a sample with a chiffon scarf:



Alors, I'm going to play with my new scarf. And practice speaking English with an outrageous French accent.

More Liberty scarf-tying videos available at Youtube.


* Hey, we're style bloggers. We were in New York City, for Heaven's sake. It was crucially important that we go shopping.