Fashion Week for All!

A JSG always loves fashion! And here are a few of the things we're most excited about this NYC fashion week—all of which are available to the general public:


• Celeb spotting A plus side to the writers' strike is that the shows and parties are predicted to be teaming with celebs. Celebrity and fashion go hand in hand and the red carpet starved celebs are said to be anxious to lend a hand to Marc, Michael, Diane and more. Keep your eye out for Lindsey Lohan, Jessica Simpson and Demi Moore around NYC this week.

•Since we already fessed up that we’re Posh fans, you won’t be surprised to hear that we can’t wait for the new Victoria Beckham-Marc Jacobs T. The shirt which features Posh in the buff benefits the Interdisciplinary Melanoma Cooperative Group to help raise skin cancer awarness. We love that the perma-tanned Posh is supporting safe sunning--let's hope she only self tans. (OK, it doesn’t really have anything to do with fashion week, but Posh is still fab and we wanted an excuse to run a pick of David Beckham!)
The $35 tee is set to go on sale this week at Marc Jacobs’ boutiques.

• 50 Years of Italian Style This exhibit of photos from Italian Vogue promises to be over the top—just like the best Italian fashion should be. It’s at gallery Twelve 21, West 21st Street between 5th and 6th and is open February 2-4. Admission is free.

• The opening of the new Gucci store on Fifth Avenue on February 8. It promises to have great window shoppping, plus we adore the Gucci Loves NY website that highlights the creative director and CEO of Gucci's fave New York haunts. Try seeing how many you can guess from the artistically angled photos.

• Taking a ride in a K-Y Love car. Everyone’s favorite lube is offering free rides to stranded fashionistas anywhere in Manhattan. Look for the cars to be circling Bryant Park. Sample lbue is included!

• Drinking lots of Bawls—an energy drink and one of fashion week’s official sponsors. If just saying the name doesn’t make it reason enough to drink it, it’s also loaded with guarana, a natural source of caffeine. When we were in Brazil a few years ago, we lived on the Antarctica Guarana soda. This will be a must for fashionistas on the go—and it sure beats the South Beach Diet bars they had a few seasons back!

For Better or Worse

One of the best parts of being a JSG is all the great products we get to test (most often for free!). There are lots of them. This week took a turn for the worse for half of us. You see JSG tried on something that caused her lower lids to inflame like two caterpillars, then peel, and now look red and puffy and wrinkly. From all accounts, we'd say it looks like we've had a chemical peel. Saddest part, not sure which of the "miracle" products is responsible! There's a good chance it's a combination of more than one. Let's just say the eyes look bad enough that when JSG offered the significant other some Kiehl's hand creme (totally gentle, right?), he laughed and said he wouldn't use any of our products!

The moral of this story is follow directions, test out a new product on your inner wrist (also a sensitive skin area) before using it on your face, and don't combine cremes or treatments.

For the record, JSG thinks it was most likely a product containing salicylic acid: much too harsh to use close to your eyes. We'll see you in a few days, when we can come out of hiding!

Don't leave home without MILK!

No, we’re not talking about the benefits of vitamin D or a new hangover remedy. This handy little acronym is all you need before a big night out. Our friend and then college roommate, Jill, came up with it to remember everything she needed before a night out. It stands for:
Money
ID
Lipstick
Keys

To this day, we use say it to ourselves as we’re stuffing our cute cocktail bag on our walk out the door. What about your cell phone, you may ask? Well, she came up with this—ahem—in the days before cell phones were ubiquitous. MILCK, anyone?

Need something small enough to take out with the girls and big enough to carry your MILCK? JSG loves Lauren Merkin clutches, we've got a few between us that we share on our girls' trips- denim, brown leather and gold sequin. We couldn't resist this fuscia color for spring. Can you? Click here for details.

The Best Lip Balm Ever

We always love a good lip balm—anyone who has ever flown on a plane knows that it’s a must-have on a long, dry flight. During the height of the liquid restrictions, we even went so far as to sneak a sample size of Aquaphor through security in our pants pockets. (Hopefully, no one from TSA is reading this now.) Fortunately, you can bring liquids on board these days—but still only in limited amounts, so finding a product that does double and triple duty is still key.

When we were at the Bendel’s Beauty Breakfast last week, we were introduced to our new all time fave lip balm (drum roll, please): Beauty Rehab Rose Salve. It’s a very light liquid balm with rose oil and shea butter that goes on silky smooth. It’s also touted to be excellent at softening cuticles, soothing sore noses post a cold and even as a split end tamer (we’ll let you know once we test that one out). What we can tell you definitively is that it smells wonderful and makes our lips feel super soft. And—Posh and Becks are already fans. (We’re not ashamed to say we liked their reality show and love them!)

It’s from the folks who brought us Liparazzi (the lip gloss that lights up) and available online here and at NYC's Henri Bendel.

On Our Radar: Shape Up In Morocco!

We’re pretty sure calories ingested over 100 miles away from home don’t actually count, so here’s hoping a workout thousands of miles from home doesn’t actually feel like one. Either way, we can’t imagine a more exotic setting to get in bikini shape than at a Kasbah in Marrakech, Morocco. A few of our luckier friends have already signed up for the Escape To Shape program that runs March 20 to May 17 and are trying to convince us to join. Included in the week long program are belly dancing and yoga lessons, massages and facials and trips into the marketplace where you can buy everything from leather goods, to silver jewelry to hand-stitched rugs.

You don’t have to twist our arm—especially when you add that the resort is set in a scenic desert setting nestled in the side of the Atlas mountains, local cuisine, like hummus and couscous, and Berber tents where we can have mint tea or take afternoon naps. Sign us up! For more info, click here.