I am currently coveting The Real Real (therealreal.com). The Real Real offers used high end luxury items. As well as selling used items, they also offer consignment services. So if you want to get rid of those Fendi, Prada and Chanel purses, The Real Real is the way to go!
From the site:
The RealReal.com is the world’s premier online luxury resale store. Offering authenticated, pre-owned, designer brands including Chanel, Hermès, Manolo Blahnik, Gucci and Cartier — all at up to 90 percent off retail prices —The RealReal eliminates the uncertainty of purchasing luxury brands online and places the world of luxury at your fingertips.
Our team of luxury experts, authentication specialists and skilled gemologists evaluates, curates and beautifully presents the best clothing, handbags, shoes, watches, fine jewelry, small leather goods and accessories, creating the web’s only destination for women’s and men’s luxury resale.
Givenchy Bootie Retail $1290. Black leather booties with peep-toe, peach ankle elastic band and wooden geometric shaped heels with gold-tone accents. $395 Click here for details http://bit.ly/1afAquS
Valentino Rockstud Pumps Retail $945. Mauve studded pumps with cherry red patent leather toes and covered heels, pale gold-tone hardware and buckle closure at ankle straps. Includes original box and dustbag. In stores now. $395 Click here for details http://bit.ly/1afAquS
This online boutique is awesome! And no worries, if your price point is significantly lower they do offer contemporary designers like Tory Burch and secondary lines like Marc by Marc Jacobs, See by Chloe, MM6 and more for considerably lower prices!
Ahhh, the most reviewed cosmetic item. Such a cliche!
Mascara is a cosmetic commonly used to enhance the eyes. It may darken, thicken, lengthen, and/or define the eyelashes. Ladies, we love our eyes to be enhanced! Sure, there is eyeliner, eyeshadow, gels, creams, and concealers but no look is complete with out at least (!) a coat of mascara.
I personally love Blinc's tube mascara as well as Givenchy and Lancome's mascaras...but with the price point starting at 20 bucks, sometimes it's not feasible! I am a mommy, a wife and a"solo-preneur"...meaning my child, husband and business' well being comes before my luxury longings. However, that doesn't mean I have to look like hell! It just means I have to scout out cheaper product that will do the trick (fabulously, of course).
Here are my 3 favorite cheap mascaras:
1) Maybelline Great Lash Mascara (come on, that was a given) It retails for about $4.50 at Walmart and as been a favorite of soccer moms to make up artists alike (and for years!). The great little wand grabs all hairs, lengthens, separates and thickens all at once. What could be better?!
It goes on easily and does what it is supposed to do. It rarely clumps or flakes and even makes those with sparse eyelashes look full, long and thick. While this is a superior cheaper mascara it does smudge a bit, so any heavy duty working out or jogging in 80 plus degree heat is not recommended.
2) L'Oreal Bare Naturale Mascara. Remember the advertisements with Penelope Cruz?
Well, I recently picked up 2 mascara tubes (at the Dollar Tree! Score!) and Bare Naturale instantly became one of my favorite mascaras, it doesn't clump or flake and it lengthens, separates and defines. One disclaimer however, I have long eyelashes and they're pretty thick. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this eyeshadow to anyone with really thin eyelashes, it doesn't thicken like Blinc's or even Maybelline. However, it easily washes off, doesn't smudge and makes my eyelashes look fabulous. I think L'Oreal has changed the name to True Match Mascara but it is in the same tortoise shell tube and I have been assured it is essentially the same formula by a committed user. I believe it retails for around $9 in most stores. (I suggest you run down to the Dollar Tree and stock up!)
3) Wet 'N' Wild Mega Plump Mascara. Yes, Wet 'N' Wild. I do not know about you all, but as a teenager I had a lot of Wet 'N' Wild products! Eyeliner, lipstick, lip gloss, and nail polish-I think I am just getting through all of Wet N Wild nail polish! (Hey it was cheap!)
One day I ran out of the house and forgot to apply mascara-which would have been fine if I did not apply eyeshadow! I did have on eyeliner, however, my eyelashes were the color of MAC's Copper Sparkle pigment and looked, well... coppery. (Basically non existent against my copper eyelids) I ran to my local CVS and bought the cheapest mascara I could find, hence Wet 'N' Wild. I expected it to darken (I mean, it was the least it could do) but I did not expect it to lengthen, thicken and separate! I was truly amazed and was caught more than once staring at my eyelashes in any reflective surface I could find. I've had it for about two months and it hasn't clumped or flaked on me (like some reviewers have said online) and is still in heavy rotation. It retails for about $2.99 and is worth every penny. (smile)
LONDON — A bereaved Alexander McQueen left a note, then hanged himself in his apartment on the eve of his mother's funeral, a coroner's inquest said Wednesday, giving the cause of the fashion designer's death as asphyxiation and hanging.
The inquest has yet to formally deliver a ruling of suicide, but police said there were no suspicious circumstances.
Coroner's official Lynda Martindill told the inquest at Westminster Coroner's Court that the body of 40-year-old McQueen was found in an armoire at his London apartment on Thursday. In the dispassionate language of the inquest, she referred to him as "a single man, a fashion designer."
Days before he died, McQueen had left several messages on the social networking site Twitter revealing his grief at his mother's recent death.
Police detective inspector Paul Armstrong told the inquest there were no suspicious circumstances. He gave the note found at the scene to coroner Paul Knapman but did not disclose its contents.
After a five-minute hearing, the coroner adjourned the inquest until April 28. Full details of the autopsy also will be available in a few months.
McQueen's family, who are now free to hold the designer's funeral, issued a statement through their lawyers appealing to the media to respect their privacy following their "grievous double loss."
They have not released details of the funeral.
In Britain, inquests are held whenever someone dies violently or in unexplained circumstances.
McQueen's death has cast a shadow over London Fashion Week, which opens on Friday. A spokeswoman said the event would feature a tribute to the designer, whose attention-grabbing designs helped re-energize British fashion after a fallow period following the punk explosion in the 1970s.
"There will be something simple and tasteful," she said. "The time for memorials will be later in the year."
She spoke on condition of anonymity because organizers are waiting for McQueen's family to approve the tribute.
Known for his dramatic statement pieces and impeccable tailoring, McQueen dressed celebrities from Cameron Diaz to Lady Gaga and influenced a generation of designers.
He was named British Designer of the Year four times and awarded the title of CBE — Commander of the Order of the British Empire — by Queen Elizabeth II.
Unlike many fashionistas, he came from a working-class background. The son of a cab driver, McQueen grew up on a public housing estate in London's East End, left school at 16 and entered the fashion world the old-fashioned way, as a teenage apprentice to a Saville Row tailor. He later studied at Central St. Martin's art college in London and was discovered by fashion guru Isabella Blow, who bought his entire graduation collection. She became a friend and mentor; her suicide three years ago shook the designer, who wept openly at her funeral.
McQueen was a private man who avoided the limelight, but his Twitter postings show emotional turmoil after his mother's death on Feb. 2. McQueen had posted messages four days before his death about his "awful week," and said he had to "somehow pull myself together and finish."
His mother's funeral was held the day after McQueen died.
Friends also said he might have felt under pressure to outdo himself at the unveiling of his new collection in Paris next month.
"I don't think success was easy for him," friend Plum Sykes wrote in the Sunday Telegraph this week. "He told me he was driven by his insecurities, and he believed that all successful people were."
McQueen became chief designer at the Givenchy house in 1996, but was best known for his own label, in which Gucci bought a majority stake in 2001. McQueen retained creative control, and became famous for his dramatic and often uncategorizable creations: sculptural cocktail dresses in psychedelic patterns; headwear made of trash; 10-inch (25 centimeter) heels shaped like lobster claws.
His shows were highly theatrical events, incorporating film and historical references and innovative technology — including, at one memorable 2006 show, an appearance by Kate Moss in hologram form.
His outrageous pieces never sold in great numbers, but he became one of fashion's best-known brands. He designed the outfit Janet Jackson was wearing when she had her breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl.
Outrageous chanteuse Lady Gaga — dressed in a lacy white ensemble and towering Marie Antoinette-esque wig — paid tribute to McQueen at the Brit music awards on Tuesday. "Thank you to Lee McQueen," she said after winning one of three prizes, using the designer's given name.
Onstage she performed a somber tribute song beside a mannequin wearing those signature lobster-claw shoes.
