M.A.C. N Collection: Neutral Faces, Ladies!

So, speaking of natural shoes, M.A.C.'s about to launch their "N" Collection -- a bouquet of beautimous nude and partially nude shades that provide just a touch of universally flattering natural color. The line was featured all over the runway during New York S/S '08 Fashion Week by Luca Luca, Preen, Tuleh and Bill Blass. The collection should be the perfect way to wear loud, fun bright dresses and stuff and not look like a tran-tran, a creepy party clown, a batshit old lady, or an Eastern European ice skater. I'm especially excited for the lipsticks:.

I'm also psyched for the milk chocolatey nail polish in "Naturally Rich."


M.A.C. "N" hits stores Thursday, January 10, which is tomorrow, if you have ESP!

Missha Vita-Feel So Good Serum: So Good Indeed

'Sbeen awhile since I've done any beauty products, and since I just got back from the 2-Up 2-Down, where I hand-delivered my moms another bottle (we sound like junkies) of a favorite product we both love: Missha's "Vita-Feel So Good Serum." Now, unless you speak both Korean and English, that name probably makes no sense. And even if you do, it still may not.

So, here's what I can deduce from my own experience as a total Westerner: first of all, I use it as a light morning/ daytime moisturizer. Second of all, it's cool but so much so that you can't use it in the winter; it's the perfect year-round moisturizer. Since it is a serum, it features the added bonus of zero C&C grease factor-y, and aside from feeling smoother and girlier than a newborn kitty's tum, your skin feels instantly softy without any of that sick tight dryness that makes you feel like a poor, enfeebled old lady. (That just me?)

And, since it's a Vitamin C serum (uhh, at least I think it is), this shit is not only fragrant, and light, but it's instantly refreshing and basically akin to a fruit salad on/ for your face. It rules. You should try it. It's $22.50 at Missha, which is basically the Korean Body Shop except at H&M prices... Actually, while most of Missha's products are insanely cheap (hence the H&M pricing), at $22.50 this product is a hypocritical exception to that rule, but considering this shit's $90 for an ounce, Missha's seems like an even better deal.

S-Perfume: 100% Love? 100% Vile

So, tonight I stopped into Barneys Coop to find a birthday present for a friend's upcoming Very Big Birthday. While at the cash register, I noticed two different perfume testers: one was Frederic Malle's Outrageous, and the other was 100% Love by S-Perfume and Sophia Grojsman, available only at Barneys. I picked up what I thought was the former, sprayed it on my inner wrist, set it down and waited for it to dry, then noticed I'd accidentally sprayed the latter, 100% Love. While the girl was ringing up my purchase, I took a quick whiff of my wrist. Again, nothing. And then... I. Almost. Fucking. Died.

Now, I know I tend toward descriptive hyperbolics, but I almost never barf, and I am NOT exaggerating when I say that I immediately almost vomited and as I write this, even now, I continue to fight back the dry heaves.

Okay, lemme see if I can do justice to the foul malodor that befell me. You know that sickening sweet-and-sour smell that five-week-old milk has and how when you sniff it, it feels similar to an electric shock minus the high voltage? That's the sensation that passed through and over me when I sprayed that shit. Iller than all ills. On the train ride home, I kept hoping no one would see me surreptitiously stealing sniffs of my arm, even though people do and sniff far worse on trains. Part of me was afraid I looked a little nuts, but the other part of me was so taken aback by the heinous self-inflicted destruction seeping into my skin that I almost wanted to grab the stranger sitting next to me and ask them to smell it so I could be sure my nose was still working properly and I didn't all of a sudden have some kind of skewed wiring leading from my nose back up to my brain. I just had to keep smelling it because I was just in such disbelief. Seriously, packed 2nd Avenue F train platforms in the dead of August don't smell as bad as this shit does.

Anyway, at this point, my arm smelled like rotten milk, warm baby formula, undercurrents of stinky cheese, bold notes of urine and just a hint of fetid tangerines. I can only hope and PRAY that the tester bottle I picked up had, in fact, turned under all of those bright, hot Barneys lights, because nothing SHOULD smell like this on purpose -- certainly nothing one should be expected to pay for.

The fragrance is described as: "The pulpy erotic part of a secret red fruit, the rich, deep and velvety skin of a dark natural rose by L.M.R., a ray of green sap from the rose's thorn, a mystical "concoction" of incense and black cacao."

Reviews I've found describe earlier versions of the fragrance as sweet like candy and roses... uhhh... what? All I know is that I was afraid to walk into my home lest my cat sniff me and keel over.

I'm afraid of what I might need to remove this scent from my sad little arm, and I pray it doesn't involve gaoline or matches.

Beauty Binge: MAC Mattene Lipstick In Flattering

Sooooooo... clearly FashionBinge is mainly about fashion, but it occurred to me the other day when I was switching bags and transferred about 18 lipsticks and glosses from one bag to the other: I have a beauty addiction. And lipsticks and glosses are my drug of choice. So, instead of admitting I have a probzor, I've decided to blog about it instead...

My newest acquisition is a MAC lipstick from their new Mattene matte line -- perf for fall, y'all!! The shade I have and am McLovin' is "Flattering," which is described as a beige pink semi-matte. On pasty-ass me, it's extremely pale but gorgeous and more peach than pink without any annoying old lady coral qualities. And it's super smooth yet light at the same time, and bish stayed on for HOURS without any icky build-up. This is the perfect complement to dramatic, smoky eyes.

The line hits October 4.

(I THINK this is Flattering, but I couldn't tell for sure.)

More Things For To Buy

K, here's some stuff I want, all of it, of course, random:

($328, Juicy Couture, Saks Fifth Avenue)
So demure, yet it's also got a great Alice In Wonderland-meets-Betsey Johnson vibe.

($325, See By Chloe, Frankeys.com)

Do I love these, OR, are they too Bonnaroo circa 2003? They might be a wee bit TOO Joss Stone. Though they could look great with a fitted, tucked-in black long-sleeved shirt and MAYBE these shoes:

($66, Asos.com)
These would also look ruling with some black tights, paired with these...





($88, French Connection, Asos.com)
PERRRRfecto bag for fall, y'all!



($43, Argento Vivo, Bluefly)
Muy elegante, but the length makes 'em sorta not-boring, which is good.



($6, OPI, Goddess-within.com)

This season, I am DETERMINED to figure out how to wear midnight dark nail polishes without looking like the pop-goth chick from Evanesence. That it is all.