The regal Pomegranate Noir scent

Father’s Day is this weekend – hurrah!  It’s a time to celebrate dad and all he’s done for you (you know, helping bring you into the world, putting up with your preteen meltdowns, being there when you need him). Really, though, if you have a Dad like mine, you’re still buying gifts in the hopes of making up for those preteen meltdowns.  It’s a miracle I made it past the age of 14.

It should go without saying that I’m always on the hunt for great Father’s Day gifts, and I’ll be tracking my progress this week through a Father’s Day Gift Guide series.  Today: the scent gurus at Jo Malone.

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It’s Friday, and I’m both sick and tired.  So I’m copping out … Time for a blind item, one I actually witnessed with my very own eyes!

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Plus size model Whitney Thompson of America's Next Top Model

In light of the retail landscape right now, some retailers are responding with what seems like a good business decision: pulling plus-size clothing, which doesn’t turn much of a profit, from brick and mortar stores, offering them only online.  But when clothing giant Ann Taylor announced their decision to do the same, all hell broke loose on the blogosphere.

Look, it’s true that fashion knows no size (seriously, check out the Fatshionistas – those girls are seriously good at pulling together an outfit), and that as an overall systemic issue, the fact that it’s hard to find adult clothes in plus sizes sucks. I get it, and I’m incredibly sympathetic.

This post is not meant to be fat-shaming or anything else – ultimately, I just wanted to add something different to the conversation, which is some industry insight as to WHY some of these decisions may have been made.

An interesting sidebar is the issue of vanity sizing.  A few years ago, we had a similar trend that affected the other end of the scale – I, at 5’2 and (at the time) 115 pounds, could not shop in a number of stores.  In fact, while working at Abercrombie in college (shut up), I had to walk across the mall and dress myself in Abercrombie Kids just to meet the dress code.  Yet, we didn’t see the sort of venomous reaction to the idea that adult women had to dress themselves in kids clothes that we’re now seeing directed at the idea that adult women need to order adult clothes online.

That aside, there are some very real, tangible reasons why plus size clothing is being phased out.

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Sigh

That picture just never gets old.

Anyhow, AMC has officially announced the premiere of the third season of the critically acclaimed (and much beloved by me) show Mad Men: August 16th.

If you can’t wait that long, here’s the official trailer (which seems to revisit some point from the second season, mixing them with foreshadowing in the third):

Still not enough?  The second season box set hits stores on July 14th, but you can preorder your copy now.

Call it the end of an era: eLuxury, the go-to shopping site for LVMH designer brands, is closing its doors.  In order to move a lot of its remaining merchandise, the site is having a sweeping clearance sale, with up to 80% off.

Happy shopping!

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Kinda NSFW, but funny as hell.

If you’re like me (late 20s/early 30s age bracket), you were probably obsessed with Saved By The Bell.  (In fact, the show was so popular that I actually had a fairly lengthy discussion about Jesse Spano’s caffeine pill additiction just last night.)

And if you were like me way back then, you had a massive crush on one Zack Morris.  The bleached hair, the tan, the rolled up acid wash jeans … Le sigh.  Luckily for me, Zack made a comeback last night on Jimmy Fallon, complete with his oversized cell phone (Jesse called mid-interview!) and an impromptu performance by Zack Attack.

Apparently, he became an actor after SBTB, but had to change his name to Mark Paul Gosselaar, since there was already a Zack Morris in SAG.  He married Kelly, but they ended up divorcing and she moved to “a different zip code.”

Ha!

That up there is me.  That’s my natural hair color (told you that I was pale).

So this study is not exactly music to my ears:

A study conducted by MoleMap by Dermatologists – a melanoma surveillance and diagnosis service – based on research by New York University Medical Centre has identified six factors that help predict the risk of people developing melanoma.

These include a history of blistering sunburns as a teenager, red or blonde hair, marked freckling on the upper back, family history of melanoma, history of scaly patches of skin on sun-exposed areas and outdoor summer jobs for three or more years as a teenager.

Having one of these factors means you are three times more likely than the general population to get a melanoma, while having two or more results in a 10 times increased likelihood of developing melanoma.

I’ve got half of those warning signs – blonde hair, freckling on my upper back and a family history of melanoma. Can you pass the SPF, please?

The full article is here.

Actress Lucille Ball Applies Max Factor

Alright, so I’m being melodramatic – the brand is not dying completely (yet), it’s just being sold overseas.  Still, Max Factor is an amazingly American success story, one that manages to encapsulate an entreprenurial spirit, Hollywood, technological advances, advertising and – oh, yes – the life story of a Jewish Russian immigrant.

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Starlets rock soft waves at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards (image courtesy of CMM)

Ahhhhh … Hair.  I don’t know a single woman who has mastered the art of making it look good each and every day.  After all, it’s the only feature that has its own designated “bad” days (has anyone ever heard of a “bad face day”?).  Face it, we’re all on a search for that magic product that will make styling our hair easy.

So, it was with great pleasure that some close friends (and fellow bloggettes) tried out new hair products and gave their opinions on the best for their hair type.

Opinions, after the jump!

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