FabSugar

A Stupid Bag Tote: Love It or Hate It?

FabSugar — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 03:00:22 PST

It's safe to say that the hype around Anya Hindmarch's I'm Not a Plastic Bag has died down . . . until now. This I'm A Stupid Bag Tote ($10) pokes fun at the craze of eco-friendly bags. Still, one of these totes can replace over 700 plastic bags. Though I gave in to the original version, I won't be carrying the knock-off any time soon. You?

To post your selections go to the Love It or Hate It? group. And if you want to learn how to do a blog post click here.

Should There Be a War on Makeup For Little Girls?

BabyCenter — Wed, 02 May 2012 10:57:47 PDT

Here's a post from our partners at BabyCenter! Every week, we bring you the best parenting and lifestyle stories from the experts at BabyCenter, including this post from Betsy Shaw about kids and makeup.

Hope Perlman survived the moment of mothering girls I dread. In her post for NY Times' Motherlode, she relays the day her 13-year-old daughter begged to be allowed to wear makeup to a party.

After much soul searching – Perlman occasionally wears makeup herself – and lecturing, she said yes. She describes her rationale here:

"I wanted her to fit in, because I know fitting in is what middle school is about. But what, exactly, was she starting to fit into? The role of the teenager tortured by her failure to live up to a magazine picture? I'd been that teenager, with a picture of a model taped to my bedroom mirror. It wasn't what I wanted for my child."

So she acquiesced. But not before letting her know exactly what she thought about the message, so aggressively delivered by a male-dominated advertising industry, that girls and women need to paint themselves, cover their skin with lotions and potions, to be beautiful and feminine.

"So that's how I allowed my daughter to start wearing makeup," Perlman says at the end of her essay, "I gave her permission - along with a large and cumbersome bag of guilt. The personal is political. Better remember that. Here's your mascara, honey. And your burden of awareness. Enjoy!"

I relate to Perlman’s story: When my daughter first sensed I had "issues" with makeup, she was about four years old. She asked me to get her a makeup kit, like the one her little friend Hanna got for being a flower girl, and I refused.

"Why not?" she pouted.

Instead of simply saying "because I said so," I treated her to a verbal tirade of stinging righteousness that came from an apparently conflicted place inside of me.

Keep reading for more of the story.

10 Pieces That Will Take You From Winter to Spring

Lucky — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 09:55:11 PDT

Lucky magazine is one of our favorite sources for great shopping tips. We're thrilled to share this fabulous story on the best transitional pieces from our friends at Lucky!

Daylight Savings Time just happened and, also like clockwork, I'm suddenly repulsed by boots, sweaters and knit hats. Instead, I want leather sandals, tiny shorts, crepe-thin dresses or anything that whispers "wear me on spring break".

Of course, this is partially (largely?) because I want it to be warm enough to wear those things. It's stupid to hope that buying summer clothes will spark the weather to match my new wardrobe, but I do it anyway. But since it doesn't really work like that, maybe I should invest in some more transitional pieces instead.

Utility Jacket

Wear It In Winter: Layered on top of thick sweaters

Wear It In Spring: As an intentionally baggy complement to flirty little dresses

drawstring utility jacket, $32.80, forever21.com

Click over to Lucky to see and shop the whole story.

For more fashion and style from Lucky, here are more Lucky stories.

Taylor Swift Reveals Dating Rules, and Why She's Still Single, in Vogue

Katie Henry — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:16:02 PST

Taylor Swift's blue eyes pop on the cover of Vogue's February 2012 issue. She posed for photographer Mario Testino inside the issue, pairing a variety of high fashion looks with a guitar - see Taylor's style transformation over the years! She spoke candidly about her career trajectory, an upcoming album, and her high-profile romantic life. Taylor Swift has dated Jake Gyllenhaal, Taylor Lautner, and even fellow musician John Mayer. Taylor admits to healing her heart through songwriting, and revealed an "earth-shattering" breakup last year inspired her new record. Taylor said in Vogue:

Taylor on the future: "I fret about the future. . . What my next move should be. What the move after that should be. How I am going to sustain this. How do I evolve. I get so ahead of myself. I’m like, ‘What am I going to be doing at 30?’ But there’s no way to know that! So it’s this endless mind-boggling equation that you’ll never figure out. I overanalyze myself into being a big bag of worries."
Taylor on love: "I think I am smart unless I am really, really in love, and then I am ridiculously stupid."
Taylor's current relationship status: "I got nothing going on! I just don’t really feel like dating. I really have this great life right now, and I’m not sad and I’m not crying this Christmas, so I am really stoked about that."
Taylor on heartbreak: "There’s just been this earth-shattering, not recent, but absolute crash-and-burn heartbreak, and that will turn out to be what the next album is about. The only way that I can feel better about myself-pull myself out of that awful pain of losing someone-is writing songs about it to get some sort of clarity."

10 Workout Secrets (From Experts Who Learned the Hard Way!)

Self — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 05:12:19 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from Self here on FitSugar!

Nobody is perfect. And neither are our workouts. From the fitness hangover solution to what not to wear at the gym and how to avoid being "that" girl at the gym, 10 fitness pros (and me) give us their "I wish I'd known sooner" secrets for having a better, more effective and enjoyable workout. So you don't have to learn the hard way!

Brynn Jinnett, Founder of the Refine Method
I was working out in a hotel gym and a man was trying to perform some strange acrobatics that involved a kettle bell and a wobble board. A guy walked by and said "KISS, man!" Keep it simple, Stupid. Eat clean, work out hard. Rinse, repeat.

Kristin McGee, Yoga and Fitness Expert
I usually never wear makeup if I work out at the gym, especially first thing in the morning, but I had my makeup on for a meeting at one of the gyms I teach at and stayed to do the moving stairs after for a quick session. I jumped off and ran to teach my next private yoga client and realized she kept staring at me funny the whole way through. After our private, I used her restroom and noticed I had total raccoon eyes! My mascara had run all down below my eyelids and I looked horrible! I told my makeup artist friend about this and here's the tip he gave me, "To avoid make up meltdown mascara under the eye, rub a little Vaseline under your eyes when you go for a run or do a heavy workout then use a q-tip to gently glide it off and reapply some concealer and you're good to go." It totally works and I realize many women have to sneak in their workouts midday or after work and this does the trick.