What's On My Desk...

Besides stacks upon stacks of presentations previewing beautiful products for next spring? Here are a few products that I'm excited about right now – some in store, some coming very soon!

1. Shampoo for Beautiful Color by Oribe. This is their most popular shampoo and is great for maintaining color. I need to hide it in the shower from my husband and kids.

2. Bumble & Bumble's new Pret-A-Powder Dry Style Extender. I continue to wash my hair less and less – helps me maintain color and reduce split end damage to my hair. This is perfect when applied to the roots to give a little extra lift and to dry up extra oil.

3. SkinCeuticals' new Antioxidant Lip Repair. Hyaluronic acid plumps and silymarin (milk thistle extract) and Vitamin E provide antioxidant protection. The creamy non-oily format makes it perfect under lipstick.

4. Seaberry Oil by Fresh. Seaberry, cranberry seed and sweet almond hydrate and soothe during the winter.

5. Laura Mercier’s Enlightenment Eye and Cheek Palette. We're definitely going on our holiday vacation to the Caribbean this year, and this is the perfect resort palette – arriving soon to our stores. I love the blushes and the Pure Glow eyeshadow (the coppery one, bottom left).

And, of course my UC Berkeley mug – it’s my 20th reunion this year, yes, I am that old. Go Bears!

Paris Vogue Chic for the Holidays

I am mesmerized by all of the Vogue Paris fashion editors that carry absolutely nothing except for their phones.  I'm not sure how they do it, but I am inspired. After all, who really wants to carry a big purse full of stuff?

Trish McEvoy’s new Portable Beauty Rose Collection just hit my desk and it is the perfect compromise.  The chic quilted silver case has everything you need right inside: a well-edited collection of 4 brushes and every necessity for touch-ups, or even to complete a workday-to-cocktail, plain-face-to-smokey-eye transition.

Brushes, eyeshadows, blushes and lips, plus room for a credit card and some cash. Oh to be free of the big mom bag. This, your phone and you're out the door. Just like Emmanuelle Alt, Geraldine Seraglio and Capucine Safyurtlu.

 photo via QuiteContinental.net

5 Things I Love Right Now

Just Hit My Desk: Delicious Molton Brown Holiday

The best ever holiday hand wash - frankincense and allspice. More sweet and spicy than frankincense. Love the hand lotion and candle too.

Going in my bag to go home with me ASAP! Coming soon to bluemercury stores!

A Day In The Life

* Read "The Most Lucrative Form of Flattery" by Alix Strauss

Bumble Hair Party!

I gave the kids the new Bumble and bumble spraychalks on a lazy sunny Saturday afternoon. They sprayed, played and did each other’s hair. With fun results!

Cobalt (blue) was the favorite, mint (green) the coolest and blush (red) was the most fun. Lavender was best on the blonder hair.

Much better than sitting on the iPad ... and more creative, too!

Darphin Miracle Eye Creams: The Story Continues

Darphin, one of my favorite Paris-based brands, has ALWAYS been known for their eye creams. We have carried Darphin at bluemercury for 14 years now.


I will always remember their first eye cream: Arovita Eye and Lip Contour Gel, which was glorious for my early thirties fine lines (back in 2000). Then came Stimulskin Plus Eye Contour Cream, one of the top selling eye creams of all time at bluemercury. Like a suction cup for the under-eye area, it instantly firms and hydrates.


Now, two more great eye products come to us from Paris. First, Darphin’s Eye Sorbet Mask is instantly moisturizing, with Japanese green tea and natural cucumber. I love slathering this mask on first thing in the morning when I get up, before I go check email and start to think about getting out the door.

Darphin’s Stimulskin Plus Divine Eye Cream also just hit my desk. A deeply hydrating treatment for fine lines and circles, this is pure luxury in a pump. Definitely for those nights when you need heavy-duty overnight reconstructive treatment for fine lines and dark circles (for me that seems to be more frequent than it used to be!).

The Darphin legacy continues...