Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Mother’s Day Zodiac Slippers

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If you are look­ing for a luxe per­son­al­ized gift to give Mom this Mother’s Day, look no fur­ther. Char­lotte Olympia’s Birth­day Zodiac Suede Smok­ing Slip­pers, $695, are a per­fect fit.

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All you need to know is her size and her sign. Char­lotte has cre­ated 12 styles to choose from, one for each sign in the Zodiac, unit­ing lux­ury and whimsy in these embroi­dered, jewel-encrusted slippers.

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My Scor­pio horo­scope pre­dicts a smart pur­chase in my near future…

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

A Dozen and One Beautiful, Unique Mother’s Day Gifts At All Price Points

Mother’s Day is May 12, and if you’re look­ing for some­thing spe­cial for the Grand Matri­arch in your life, here is a col­lec­tion of unique gifts at all price points.

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Sweet Sachets, $38. Gump’s depart­ment store has a beau­ti­ful col­lec­tion of sachets to keep in her lin­gerie drawer or cedar chest. I am espe­cially fond of the triplet above, made from tex­tiles used for Japan­ese children’s cos­tumes and scented with a blend of roses, orange blos­soms and violets.

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Sea Sponges, $8.97. A real nat­ural sea sponge ele­vates bathing into some­thing nearly sacred. Remem­ber, faux sea sponges, like the kind you find at Tar­get, are not the same as real sea sponges, which are har­vested con­ser­v­a­tively from the ocean floor. A nat­ural sea sponge will last for years if prop­erly cleaned and cared for. NaturalBathandBodyShop.com sells a sea sponge sam­pler for under $10. You get three sponges, which make great gifts, espe­cially if you bun­dle them with a shower gel or bub­ble bath. Throw in a nat­ural loofah for an addi­tional two bucks; it’s the per­fect tool for exfo­li­a­tion. Read more about sea sponges, includ­ing how to clean and care for them, here.

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Zoya Pro­fes­sional Nail Lac­quer, $8.99. Zoya nail pol­ishes are free of formalde­hyde, toluene, dibutyl phtha­late and cam­phor. Even bet­ter, the pol­ishes are super shiny with a long-lasting chip-free for­mula, and come in a seem­ingly end­less array of tempt­ing juicy col­ors and fin­ishes. At this price you can afford to give her more than one! Buy them at Whole Foods when you pick up your organ­ics, or go to Zoya.com to see the full collection.

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Paci­fica Tahit­ian Gar­de­nia Value Col­lec­tion, $30. The price point on this gift set from the eco-conscious Paci­fica brand makes this an irre­sistible choice for Mom. A $50 value, it includes a lus­cious body but­ter, fab­u­lous body wash and the con­ve­nient one-ounce per­fume spray to spoil Mom com­pletely, and all at a bar­gain price. Buy it now and you get free ground ship­ping on orders of $25 or more through Mother’s Day!

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Eucalan Wrap­ture No-Rinse Del­i­cate Wash, $13. This gen­tle wash comes highly rec­om­mended by my friend Luis Pare­des, pub­lisher of TheLingerieJournal.com. Made for lin­gerie and other del­i­cates, it’s a no-rinse for­mula, mean­ing one less step in the wash­ing process for Mom; plus, with night-blooming jas­mine, it will scent her hand-wash-only items with the intox­i­cat­ing essence of the flower. Per­fect for lingerie-lovers and knit­ters alike!

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Branché 22 Momme 100% Silk Queen-Sized Pil­low­case, $84. Where lux­ury meets neces­sity. A silk pil­low­case from BeyondBeds.com has real, doc­u­mented beauty ben­e­fits, plus it’s a super-luxe way to spoil her with some­thing she’d never get herself–unless you’re me. They come in 10 beau­ti­ful col­ors, but the gold is so shim­mer­ingly gor­geous I can hardly stand it!

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Brighton Coin Purses, $52. I love the whim­si­cal leather coin purses by Brighton. They come in many witty designs, but this kitty is so cute that I just may buy it for myself!

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With a French clip top clo­sure and clever leop­ard lin­ing, Mom can keep track of all that loose change neatly and fashionably.

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UGG Fluff II Flip Flops, $79.95. I absolutely have to have these insanely comfortable-looking UGG house slip­pers from Nord­strom, even though I’m not a mother. In flamingo-pink shear­ling with a gos­samer rib­bon bow, they’re per­fect for spa days. Add a gift cer­tifi­cate for a pedi­cure for a truly swank gift.

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Tan­gle Teezer, 16.99. This beauty essen­tial detan­gles even the cra­zi­est snarls and back­comb­ing, so that bro­ken hair and split ends will be a thing of the past. Because it’s so darned cute, it’s almost hard to take the Tan­gle Teezer seri­ously, but it seri­ously works! A must for all Moms, kinky and straight alike! Read more about the this cool inven­tion by celebrity hair­styl­ist Shaun P. here.

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Sis­ley Soir de Lune Eau de Par­fum, $188. A lin­ger­ing roman­tic flo­ral, Soir de Lune is not a new fra­grance by Sis­ley, but it is new to me and I love it! Per­fect for spring and sum­mer, it’s light, sweet and ele­gant. In a heavy crys­tal bot­tle with an art nou­veau cap, it will look sub­lime on her dress­ing table. The per­fumed shower gel, $89, and per­fumed body cream, $128, are pure decadence!

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Philip B. Mother’s Day Gift Sets, $28-$275. Enjoy a fat 20% dis­count on all Mother’s Day gift sets by Philip B. She’ll love work­ing up a lather with Philip’s pam­per­ing elixirs–unmatched in quality–that will spoil her from head to toe! Right now there’s some­thing on sale for every woman.

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Paper Source Cus­tom Stamp Gift Set, $39.95. As seen in Real Sim­ple mag­a­zine, this cus­tom stamp is a best-seller and the ele­gant way for Mom to leave her mark.

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With end­less design options to choose from, this stamp will dress up invi­ta­tions, return address labels and all her other cor­re­spon­dence, and all at a smart price.

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Pep­per Pas­sion Cus­tom Salt and Pep­per Mills by Bruce Mor­gan, $120-$600 each. We saved the best for last! As fea­tured in Gourmet and Sun­set mag­a­zines, these fab­u­lous salt and pep­per mills, hand-crafted from lux­ury exotic woods, ele­vate any table set­ting to an art form. The mills are both func­tional and beau­ti­ful, mak­ing a grand con­ver­sa­tion piece. Each mill is signed by the artist.

I love my pair of Zebra Wood mills so much…

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…but check out the beau­ties above, crafted from Rose­wood Burl, $600 each!

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And of course Mom would love to try Bruce’s sam­pler packs of exotic salts and pep­per­corns from around the world. Spice up her life with these uncom­mon condiments!

There you have it–13 Unique Presents of Great­ness for Mom on Mother’s Day!

Monday, April 8, 2013

Cheap, Gorgeous and Eco-Friendly Fragrance by Pacifica

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I must con­fess that I have a ter­ri­ble weak­ness for my Jo Mal­one colognes in Orange Blos­som and Red Roses, but at $60 for one ounce, the cost to remain lus­ciously fra­grant is a lit­tle steep. That’s why I am thrilled to have found a cost-effective addi­tion to my fra­grance collection.

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Paci­fica fra­grances, sold at Whole Foods mar­kets and online, are my newest trea­sure. I really love the scents in this line, my favorites being the Tahit­ian Gar­de­nia, inspired by Tahiti’s sacred flower, and the equally unfor­get­table Per­sian Rose.

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Wear the flo­rals together and it’s rem­i­nis­cent of walk­ing through bloom­ing gar­dens in Europe. Or try Island Vanilla, a sweet and warm scent that stands on its own. Best of all is the price. A one-ounce spray is only $22, but I absolutely love the fact that the fra­grances, which come in a bevy of yummy scents, are also avail­able in a con­ve­nient per­fume roll-on, above, $12, as well as in solid form, below, $9, mak­ing them super con­ve­nient, portable and affordable!

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You can throw them in your gym bag or purse and rest assured that you’ll smell sweeter than the com­pe­ti­tion, and all at a smart price.

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The com­pany, co-founded by the beau­ti­ful Brook Harvey-Taylor, above, is also extremely eco-conscious so you can feel good about sup­port­ing Paci­fica. In addi­tion to their part­ner­ship with Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Future’s Soci­ety–ded­i­cated to pre­serv­ing our global ocean–Pacifica recy­cles and uses post-consumer mate­ri­als. All their boxes are 100% recy­clable, and their com­pany goal is to have zero product-manufacturing waste in their factory.

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Paci­fica fra­grances also come in eco-friendly soy can­dle form, $22, made with lead-free wicks. I am dying to try the company’s coffee/sugar detox scrub, $28, above, and their tempt­ing vari­ety of body but­ters, $15 for 8 ounces. This is an awe­some value, and they’re sure to drench dry skin in much-needed mois­ture because they are rich in shea but­ter and almond oil. Per­fect for a Mother’s Day gift.

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Now every woman on a bud­get can smell delec­table 100% of the time! My work here is done.

Monday, February 4, 2013

A Bright Idea for Valentine’s Day—Colored Lingerie

Black lace is always right, but brilliantly-hued under­pin­nings def­i­nitely do not go unno­ticed. Take a look at these bright ideas from Agent Provocateur.

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The Win­nie baby­doll, above, com­bines rich navy tulle with whim­si­cal red embroi­dered polka dots for a look that is inno­cent yet unmis­take­ably siren. Per­fect for domes­tic chores such as dish­wash­ing, among other things…

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Match­ing bra and panty and red-banded stock­ings com­plete this play­ful look.

The Lavelle set, below, in bright fuschia stretch satin, is hard to miss.

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Think pink for Valentine’s Day in this stun­ning ensem­ble. Dot­ted stock­ings add visual interest.

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The set is embell­ished with allur­ing cutouts and eye­lash trim.

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The Birth­day Suit bra, in bril­liant crim­son, above, is a lightly padded 1/4 cup bra that can be worn with heart-shaped sequined pasties, under a baby­doll or a sexy dress. You can always wear it under some­thing com­pletely casual, too, for an ele­ment of surprise.

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Mar­got, in deep cobalt blue, is a bandage-style wrap over bra and match­ing thong fash­ioned from exquis­ite stretch French lace. He’ll most cer­tainly enjoy unwrap­ping his Valentine’s Day present this year if you snag this scorch­ing set.

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The Luna slip, above, in clingy hot pink silk geor­gette, is the per­fect naughty nightie for a svelte-figured girl, while the Novah kimono, below, is stun­ning on any figure.

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Orange is overt in this tangerine-hued set below named Brit­tnie. It’s not that innocent.

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Friday, January 11, 2013

A Valentine’s Day Gift He’ll Never Forget: Sexy Boudoir Photos

3.jpgPhoto by Sue Bryce

A Thou­sand Words

A pic­ture may be worth a thou­sand words, but that shouldn’t stop you from leav­ing him speech­less this Valentine’s Day with a gift that will aston­ish him—steamy boudoir pic­tures of your­self, shot by a pro­fes­sional pho­tog­ra­pher. It’s not too late to give him a present he’ll never forget.

A boudoir shoot is an incred­i­ble experience—an oppor­tu­nity to unleash your inner temptress,” said Jen­nifer Skog, a San Fran­cisco Bay Area pho­tog­ra­pher who spe­cial­izes in the boudoir genre. “We prep, style and shoot with a fash­ion spread in mind. The end result is a day of glam­our and pas­sion with magazine-ready images to show for it,” she stated.

For women who are con­sid­er­ing a boudoir shoot, I would tell them not to wait a moment longer,” said Lily Yip, San Fran­cisco Bay Area boudoir pho­tog­ra­pher. “We, as women, tend to be very crit­i­cal of our­selves, and more often than not I hear women say stuff like ‘Let me lose ten pounds first.’”

My boudoir pho­tog­ra­phy is about nat­ural beauty in a com­fort­able and sweet envi­ron­ment,” Lily con­tin­ued. If you are self-conscious about a cer­tain part of your body there are lots of way to dis­guise it with the appro­pri­ate attire. “Choos­ing the right cloth­ing and find­ing a pho­tog­ra­pher who knows how to pose var­i­ous body shapes in flat­ter­ing light­ing will help achieve beau­ti­ful results.”

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I always ask my clients which part of their body is their favorite and which part is their sig­nif­i­cant other’s favorite so men­tally we can focus on the pos­i­tive aspects of her body,” Lily added.

If you still feel ner­vous doing a boudoir shoot, remem­ber that you can always opt for roman­tic face shots instead.

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Sue Bryce, who cre­ated these head shots, is a por­trait pho­tog­ra­pher who also shoots boudoir. Sue was awarded Australia’s Por­trait Pho­tog­ra­pher of the Year in 2011 and 2012. Remem­ber that you do not nec­es­sar­ily need to seek out boudoir pho­tog­ra­phers specif­i­cally. A skilled por­trait pho­tog­ra­pher, like Sue, might be a bet­ter bet. Do not elim­i­nate the pos­si­bil­ity of fash­ion pho­tog­ra­phers either. Just make sure you do your research first, and make sure above all that you love their port­fo­lio pieces.

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Shots Fired: Find­ing a Good Photographer

Choos­ing the right pho­tog­ra­pher is the num­ber one pri­or­ity for any­one inter­ested in a boudoir shoot. The best way to find one is by start­ing with Yelp reviews and look­ing online. The artist’s port­fo­lio will be the best indi­ca­tion of whether they are a good fit, but don’t just blindly go with the first per­son you inter­view. Chem­istry is of utmost importance.

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Usu­ally it takes at least 30–60 min­utes for some­one to get com­fort­able in front of the camera—with any type of shoot—let alone some­thing seduc­tive and half-dressed. For this par­tic­u­lar rea­son, we do not offer any­thing less than a full day of shoot­ing.  We want to get a lot of suc­cess­ful shots and to do this, we feel we need that time to not only give the com­plete expe­ri­ence but to get those shots that we want for our client,” said Jennifer.

A tal­ented pho­tog­ra­pher will put you at ease and cap­ture your unique beauty in any stage of life, includ­ing times such as preg­nancy. In addi­tion, they can cor­rect and con­ceal flaws with good light­ing and poses.

The best way to choose a pho­tog­ra­pher is equal parts port­fo­lio and client reviews,” stated Rhi­an­non Panopou­los, owner of Allo­ria Win­ter Stu­dios. “You can have a won­der­ful pho­tog­ra­pher that is unor­ga­nized with poor client ser­vice skills. “The best of both worlds is desir­able and achiev­able,” she added.

When inter­view­ing pho­tog­ra­phers, make sure to ask them about their expe­ri­ence with Pho­to­Shop. “Even the most per­fect of bod­ies have imper­fec­tions,” said Jen­nifer. “We direct in a way that will hide those imper­fec­tions while enhanc­ing the assets. Addi­tion­ally, I am a mas­ter at Pho­to­Shop. I’m a per­fec­tion­ist and I’m a woman…I know how we look at our­selves in a pho­to­graph and I know how to touch it up.”

Pho­to­Shop skills are an inte­gral way to make a good image an excep­tional image. “This is another way for a pho­tog­ra­pher to place their stamp and style on their work,” said Rhi­an­non. “Many clients have per­sonal inse­cu­ri­ties such as skin issues or body con­cerns. It is an added plus to have a pho­tog­ra­pher that can remove or help these inse­cu­ri­ties,” she added.

Kiss and Makeup

It’s impor­tant that you like the hair and makeup in the photographer’s port­fo­lio images. Ask the pho­tog­ra­pher what makeup artists they like to work with and get names. You may want to do a trial makeup ses­sion before the shoot so you can best com­mu­ni­cate the look you desire.

Take the time to pin­point shots and makeup that you don’t like by bring­ing in mag­a­zine pic­tures, so the pho­tog­ra­pher and makeup artist are even bet­ter informed of your preferences.

Wardrobe

If you can­not afford Agent Provo­ca­teur, or if you have no idea what to wear for the shoot, many boudoir pho­tog­ra­phers offer a selec­tion of gor­geous lin­gerie and jew­elry to choose from.

Vic­to­rian cour­te­san, femme fatale or ethe­real deity–we have every­thing you need to make you feel the part,” said Rhi­an­non. From shoes by Chris­t­ian Louboutin to jew­elry from Tiffany & Co., you can choose from the best in fash­ion to cre­ate your own sig­na­ture look.

Prepar­ing For the Shoot

Phys­i­cally, we have a whole list of rec­om­men­da­tions to get your body and skin look­ing its best before the shoot,” said Jen­nifer. “A week before we sug­gest stay­ing away from food items that may make you bloated, as well as cer­tain lotions that may cause the skin to peel and show up under makeup. We rec­om­mend exfo­li­at­ing your skin one week before, drink­ing lots of water, and refresh­ing your hair color and trim if nec­es­sary. The day before we sug­gest cer­tain main­te­nance like tweez­ing the eye­brows, shav­ing hair from every­where, and get­ting a fresh mani-pedi.”

If you just can’t make the dead­line this Valentine’s Day, book a shoot any­way and give him the pho­tos for no rea­son at all what­so­ever. He’ll adore you.

Friday, December 21, 2012

More Furoshiki Madness!

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Back in 2010 I did a great arti­cle about Furoshiki, the art of gift wrap­ping with textiles.

Still obsessed with this unique and eco-conscious trend, I thought I would share with you my furoshiki gifts this Christmas.

Here they are, pic­tured above, some of the gifts that are under my tree this year…and now I’m going to give you a few wrap­ping tips that I have picked up since I’ve been prac­tic­ing furoshiki.

First, choose a thin­ner fab­ric for a less bulky, more pre­cise wrap.

Sec­ond, work with the tex­ture and weight of the fab­ric, and embrace the notion of drapery.

You may have to use a glue gun to hold some of the edges, unless you are really tal­ented at furoshiki. A true furoshiki artist uses the fab­ric only to wrap the gift. Don’t even ask me how they do it!

And lastly, pick up some inex­pen­sive acces­sories at the craft store to embell­ish your gift. I chose a lit­tle sprig of pine cone for the small gift, and the bril­liant pea­cock for the larger one…but don’t be afraid to play with pro­por­tions and try some­thing com­pletely unusual for a most hand­some gift.

Now get to wrap­ping, furoshiki style!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Nordstrom’s Most Wanted Christmas Gifts

Nord­strom is a great depart­ment store with a friendly and knowl­edge­able staff. Their return pol­icy is excellent–more than fair, in fact, and they really bend over back­wards to keep the cus­tomer happy. I’ve never had a bad expe­ri­ence at Nord­strom in all my years of shop­ping there. It’s a valu­able resource for reli­ably beau­ti­ful gifts.

Here I’ve included some of my favorite Nord­strom gifts, and those of Nordstrom’s fash­ion cre­ative direc­tor, Gregg Andrews.

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Gregg’s favorite clas­sic gift is a Halo­gen super-luxe cash­mere sweater at a sweet price. “Cash­mere is the epit­ome of wear­able lux­ury and time­less style,” he said. “This sea­son, the clas­sic cash­mere v-neck sweater gets updated in rich, vibrant col­ors that can take any woman from work to weekend…and every­one appre­ci­ates a gift that’s as lux­u­ri­ous as it is ver­sa­tile.” They’re a steal at $79.99; I’ll take one of each please. Thanks Gregg!

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The makeup maven will adore a com­pact cus­tomized espe­cially for her, and Esteé Lauder’s Zodiac Com­pact, $70, is an ideal choice. “These golden com­pacts are dec­o­rated with her zodiac sign and make an ele­gant per­son­al­ized gift,” Gregg stated. “What woman wouldn’t feel spe­cial when she takes this beau­ti­ful com­pact out of her hand­bag?” Hmmm, my horo­scope pre­dicts a pur­chase in my near future.

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For a per­fect host­ess gift, Gregg rec­om­mends stock­ing up on the sure-to-please Dip­tyque can­dles, $32-$68. “From the rich pine fra­grance of Sapin Dore to Oliban’s aro­matic frank­in­cense, Diptyque’s hol­i­day scents add a touch of lux­ury to any occa­sion,” Gregg said. Buy a few to stash at home for last-minute gifts as you head to par­ties all sea­son long. One of my favorites, Tubereuse, is in a vibrant ruby votive, per­fect for the hol­i­days. A wel­come depar­ture from wine and flowers.

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For the music lovers, “head­phones have become a cru­cial acces­sory for those on the go,” Gregg said. Beats by Dr. Dre Solo High Def­i­n­i­tion On-Ear Head­phones, $199.95, are both styl­ish and con­ve­nient. “They fold up neatly for pack­ing,” Gregg said.

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And now, here’s my take on Nordstrom’s top gifts. The Clar­isonic skin-cleansing brush, $199, ele­vates wash­ing your face to a whole new level. Devel­oped by sci­en­tists and beloved by beauty edi­tors and celebri­ties alike, the Clar­isonic brush uses a patented sonic fre­quency to gen­tly yet thor­oughly remove six times more makeup and two times more dirt and oil than a reg­u­lar cleans­ing. I love mine. Ther­a­peu­tic prod­ucts like serums and retinoids are absorbed more effec­tively so you get the most out of their active ingre­di­ents. In addi­tion, pores appear smaller and skin feels super smooth and clean. In candy apple red, this lit­tle device is per­fect under the tree. Read my in-depth review here…

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Esteé Lauder’s new Pri­vate Blend col­lec­tion really sat­is­fies my desire to smell awe­some 24/7. Cre­ated by Esteé Lauder’s grand­daugh­ter Aerin, these expertly-crafted blends are com­pletely addic­tive. Read more…

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I just snagged the most beau­ti­ful pair of crim­son satin pajama pants from In Bloom by Jon­quil. At only $38, they’re actu­ally made of a high-quality poly­ester that feels like real silk. They’ll fool any­one, even a tex­tiles expert. And because they’re a syn­thetic fab­ric, they’ll wash like a dream. That’s my idea of luxury.