Sun, 22 Mar 2009 01:14:53 GMT

Gorgeous designer bags for frugal fashionistas

Beware! I'm going to rant.
Did you know that this country spends more than $6 billion on bags alone? I cannot help but wonder how so many women can continue to be psyched over designer handbags. Sure, they look cool, but they're also grossly overpriced. The cost of an original Gucci can leave you gasping for air. $2,500! You could feed a dozen people with that kind of money!

So, what's a woman to do? Go without a purse or a handbag? That's rather steep.

Tough times, they say, call for tough actions. But some tough actions can be sweet. Like this designer replica Gucci Tribeca from Highreplica. Great design, lovely color and quite roomy too. The flower and star motif gives off a whiff of magic. With its sturdy yet stylish strap, this handbag can easily become a working girl's favorite everyday bag. The bag earns brownie points for its versatility. Here is a style you can pair with almost anything. At the rate they're offering you, this designer replica is a steal!

On the other hand, if white is not your color, you could always choose a startling Prada Nappa in black leather. There's only one way to describe this beauty: understated elegance. Its girly ruffles are made for the most feminine of women, which makes it one of the classiest bags to carry. Although it's a replica, the bag has all the features of the real stuff: the rich sheen of quality leather, delicate stitches and the silky soft lining within.

If you love designer brand handbags, Highreplica is worth a see over. It has been selling quality replicas at reasonable prices for a few years now. Sure, these bags are not dirt cheap. That's because they are not bought carelessly from the by lanes of Canal Street where a bag is sold at $15, and resold at a higher profit. The bags you find here are handmade by designers who are nothing short of skilled craftsmen. These designer replica bags are costlier than cheap replicas because of the high quality of raw materials and craftsmanship used to manufacture them. You can really flaunt these and live with them for years - and shhhushhh…no one will ever know you're carrying a replica.

My point is: when you can get the same stuff at less than half the price, what's the reason to blow your bank account? Women, looking good never came so easy, or cheap! Check these out.
Posted by: Joslyn      Read more     Source

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:41:18 GMT

Eco-friendly Sodastream's Pure homemade soda system

A few years ago, we covered Sodastream"s Peguin, a homemade soda system. Last December, Sodastream released their newest model, the Pure. It still produces homemade soda in 30 seconds using reusable BPA-free plastic bottles and carbonators filled with CO2 gas. You can then drink it plain or add anything you want to make flavored carbonated beverages, like pomegranate-orange-ginger soda. Being able to control what goes into your carbonated beverages has obvious health benefits, by replacing or reducing sugar and corn syrup with real fruit juice and other natural ingredients.

Moreover, there are ecological reasons to make your own soda and sparkling water. The recent wave of attention over plastic water bottle was important, but soda and sparkling water seemed to get an easy out in the discussion. The average American drinks over 600 cans of bottles of soda and sparkling water each year, of which 55% aluminum cans and 66% plastic bottles fail to get recycled and end up in landfills. There is also the issue of imported sparkling water, which must often cross continents and oceans to get stores in the US.

The Pure uses one canister of CO2 to make 110 liters (30 gallons) of soda (without batteries or electricity,) which has a vastly smaller carbon footprint than transporting all those cans and bottles to the store and then into your home, not to mention all the material and energy that goes into creating those containers themselves. It"s rare that a product is healthier, reduces consumption, and allows for increasing ways for creative experimentation, but Sodastream has achieved it. Posted by: Sarah      Read more     Source

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:38:18 GMT

Talking Color Cosmetics with Trae Bodge

Earlier this week we took a break from Fashion Week shows and events to spend some time with Trae Bodge, one of the founders of 3 Custom Color Cosmetics, in their amazing studio (pictured left).

Not only is Trae a beautiful and personable makeup artist, business woman, (and mommy!), she is also extremely creative and one of the most knowledgeable people we have met about how the makeup industry works, what products women want and what will make every women look and feel their best.

We talked about how Trae and her partners created 3 Custom Color Specialists, some of the special projects that they have done, such as the collaboration with the Showtime television show "The L Word", and of course some of her favorite makeup tips and tricks she"s learned over the years.

Then we got to the really fun part for any beauty junkie like us -- viewing her line in person and using some of her newest shades and products! Trae asked me what beauty concerns I had, and what color combinations I usually used.

Trae at work custom blending shades in the studio

Then she recommended Mood Lighting Shimmer Creme in On Fire, Poppy Lip & Cheek Stain, sheer lipstick in Kit and the Concealer Foundation in #8. She also reminded me that the concealer foundation is just that - a concealer AND and foundation (3 Custom Color Specialists do not have a liquid or powder foundation product in their line). It can be applied with a damp makeup sponge all over the face or just in spot areas. It can also be mixed with your favorite moisturizer to create a tinted moisturizer. (I tried this and it works beautifully!).

Here are the products that Trae recommended in detail:

Mood Lighting Shimmer Creme in On Fire. It"s creamy, soft and very easy to blend. On Fire is a bronzed shimmer with a touch of opalescence. This was the perfect touch on my cheekbones and brow bones.



Poppy Lip & Cheek Stain - A bold warm coral - designed with makeup artist James Vincent of the Powder Group. (We LOVE James!). The shade added a beautiful sheer glow to my skin and the perfect amount of "pop"!

"Kit" Lipstick

This shade is from a new sheer lipstick collection inspired by the SHOWTIME® original groundbreaking series THE L WORD. Kit is a raisin shade with copper shimmer . Since it"s so sheer, it was a really flattering "my lips but better color".

Concealer Foundation

This versatile formula is appropriate for all skin types and is designed to provide the most effective coverage for redness and dark circles. Use in isolated areas with a Concealer brush or your fingers. This shade was a perfect match and the consistency was super smooth.

#8 Concealer, above

For full coverage all over the face, use with a dry sponge. For sheer coverage, use a wet sponge or blend with moisturizer.

It comes in a broad range of 10 shades, which can also be blended for the perfect match for those of you who don"t fall into a specific number.

All 3 Custom Color Specialist products are available online @ threecustom.com. Please click here to contact them about their custom blending and bridal services. Posted by: Palacinka Beauty      Read more     Source

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:33:41 GMT

Jenny Wicks Photography

So, redheads could be extinct within one hundred years. With no survival advantage to gingerism, it has been suggested that the gene may die out. Is that really the kind of evolutionary progress we want to see? Photographer Jenny Wicks has documented the increasingly elusive breed in a series called Root Ginger. Posted by: JJA100485      Read more     Source

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:34:19 GMT

In A Dream

In a Dream is a family film. The director is Jeremiah Zagar. The main character is his father Isaiah Zagar, an eccentric artist who over the past four decades has covered more than 50,000 square feet of Philadelphia with stunning mosaic murals. The murals chronicle his love for his wife, Julia, and hint at the darker corners of an outlandish imagination. The film took Jeremiah about seven years to complete. Posted by: JJA100485      Read more     Source

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:39:01 GMT

Chain Bottle Holder

The laws of gravity no longer apply. Up is now down and down is up. This cool wine holder clearly shows that the basic laws of physics have been broken.

Either that or this is in fact an optical illusion created by welded chain links that cleverly counter balance the weight of a wine bottle. Posted by: Gerard      Read more     Source

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:57:31 GMT

Personal solar tracking

The Solar ChumAlong solar tracking system is a solar charging panel that automatically track the sun just like those big expensive arrays you see in science fiction movies. It is also portable and lightweight which means you can take it with you on picnics or hikes to power up your absolutely must have electrical gadgets. The fact that the solar panel is always facing the sun means that you’ll receive optimum light for the cell charging, which makes us wonder just how inefficient conventional solar cells are when you plunk them down in the window. $399.00 complete with a 5W solar panel.

 ChumAlong is a device for orienting a solar photovoltaic panel toward the sun. As the sun’s position in the sky varies during the day, ChumAlong’s™ job is to make sure the Solar Panel is always pointing at the brightest point in the sky. Accomplishing this ensures that the solar panel can deliver it’s maximum output from available sunlight of the day. 30%-50% increases in efficiency can be obtained over conventional stationary methods! Setup takes only a few minutes and requires no tools. Posted by: Redferret      Read more     Source

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 07:31:11 GMT

Far From the Madding Crowd

Far From the Madding Crowd
Directed by John Schlesinger
1967, 171 minutes, United Kingdom
Warner Home Video

Adapted by Frederick Raphael from Thomas Hardy"s fourth yet first commercially successful novel (1874), Schlesinger"s lavishly sweeping epic arrives on DVD for the first time, extended by three minutes to include the film"s Overture, Entr"Acte, and a PETA-unfriendly cockfighting scene that was cut from the original American release. In her third outing with Schlesinger after Billy Liar and Darling, a perhaps never-lovelier Julie Christie headlines as Bathsheba Everdene, a strong-willed country heiress who coyly underestimates her power over men after becoming the sunny nexus of an orbiting love-quadrangle. Over the course of three hours, the seasons seamlessly change under the spectacular (and impeccably lit) Panavision lensing of director-to-be Nicolas Roeg, Malcolm Cooke"s poppy editing, Richard Macdonald"s classy production design, and Richard Rodney Bennett"s folksy score, all evoking the rural feel and pace of 19th century Dorset without the typically modernized tranquility of most Hollywood period epics. Posted by: ahillis      Read more     Source

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 03:00:54 GMT

Selected Works Of Anton Repponen

Selected Works Of Anton Repponen.Here are a few interesting design concepts by Anton Repponen.
About Anton Repponen:
Born in 1984 in Russia, grew and studied in Tallinn (Estonia). For the past 3 years he has been living and working in New York City and Stockholm. He is a senior designer at Fi and specializes in designing user interfaces, rich media websites, campaign sites, photo re-touch and more. Posted by: Venus      Read more     Source

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:57:59 GMT

Free "XnView" Graphics Program

Here's a free graphics program that also performs digital image file organization tasks among other things.

For a free program this one is surprisingly feature rich and it performs its operations quickly and without glitches.

Here's a page with a description of this program's features and many positive users comments on the free "XnView" graphics program.

Here's download page.

Take a camera with you whenever possible, and look around, you'll find a picture somewhere.

Photo Source:Pierre Gougelet Posted by: jim      Read more     Source