vamp it up.

a few months ago i wasn't sure how i felt about lana del rey...or her less than stellar performance on "saturday night live." after this week and her walk down the red carpet at the met gala, however, i'm thinking a bit differently. besides her unbelievable dress and to-die-for cape by joseph altuzarra, her dramatic blood wine-stained lips rounded out one of the costume institute ball's best looks in true vamp fashion, even if it was more fitting for autumn or winter rather than a spring event. check out the full look at vanity fair.

she wasn't the only celeb to purse her plum lips at the gala either (just one of the few to do it right). camilla belle and kate bosworth worked the pre-show photogs in dark lipstick hues, and jessica alba, kate upton and sofia vergara showed off bright reds and pinks. the bold lip was one of the hot trends at the event, next to peplum-skirted dresses and bright yellow and orange gowns.

the bold lip is one of my favorite accessories the past few months, as it instantly transforms a black leather skirt, sundress, colored jeans or cocktail attire into something that's a little more high fashion or formal. and surprisingly it still works on my thin, almost non-existent lips to help pack a punch.

want to pull off lana del rey's deep lip color yourself this weekend? after months of searching for the right red and perfect purple hues and coming up empty, i finally layered the two of these and found a match i think you'll like. here's my secret mix:


first, layer on the sephora rouge cream lipstick in "bewitch me," which is the darkest in the collection...

then add a quick swipe of mac cosmetic's "russian red" and blot. you're all set! it doesn't look like a huge difference in the pics, but trust me, in real life the red helps tone down the purple so it's not so gothicly harsh.

it's pretty long lasting, too. touch-ups are only needed every now and then, even though i don't use a lip liner. besides, even when a bit wipes off, the stain leaves a slight ombre look that's oh-so "in" right now.

the best part? when i'm wearing it i can drink all the pinot noir and cabernet i want with no worries. now i just need to find a cape...

sweet tweets for summer treats

if you're not already on twitter, you probably should be. besides the addicting process of posting what you're wearing today in 140 characters and digitally stalking @heyismeashley or @officialchace, a handful of retailers, designers, daily newspapers and others are now announcing some fantastic giveaways through the site. some ask followers to retweet something or answer a question to win movie tickets or a free sample, but there are a few others that are really worth your time.

take @rachelnasvik for example. through her twitter account and her simple, yet eye-catching "thrill of the chase" blog - http://www.wherethenighttakesyou.blogspot.com/ - the designer staged a pretty inventive campaign to put her name and handbags on the style map. over the course of a couple weeks in june, more than 90 of her limited edition, hand-printed alice bond bags were "lost" somewhere in nyc and clues on their whereabouts were then tweeted and blogged. bags were left in abandoned shopping carts at dean and deluca, on a hot dog cart, in club restrooms, on a subway car and even hanging in my nyc lodging of choice, the hudson hotel.



any lucky wanderer to engage in the bag hunt, whether on purpose or by accident, also found a note that read: "you did not find this bag; this bag found you," and became the rightful owner of the purse. the bags were stocked to prepare the "finder-keeper" for more than just a night on the town: a mix of tunes, bobby pins, tarot cards, lip gloss, matches and other - some unmentionable here - accessories added to the already-exciting find.

since we were not able to get our hands on the bags in palm beach county, @cityplacewpb is giving away some sizzling summer swag closer to home. launched last week, cityplace is tweeting every wednesday between noon and 2 p.m. until july 22 with instructions for locals to win prizes from some of the area's hottest retailers. the first lucky follower to check in at the day's selected store and repeat the tweet will go home with something sweet.

last week's winner - who happened to be my friend chrissy! - arrived within six minutes of the tweet to receive $300 worth of laura mercier and issey miyake products from sephora, including a new summer fragrance and a nude color palette of bronzer, waterproof mascara, light mineral shadows and other makeup perfect for the sunny weather.


i hear that today's prize will be a victoria's secret bathing suit of choice, just in time for the fourth of july. but who will be today's winner...will it be you?

gray is the new black

ok, so i know i'm not really ahead of the game on this one considering i only discovered gray nail polish in january and am just now posting about it, but i am still loving it. gray was a hot color for winter this year, but as a paler and less harsh version of black or silver, i think it can be incorporated into spring and summer fashions too.


my favorite is the above "on the prowl" color from mac's hello kitty line, but it's apparently everyone else's too because it's sold out online and at every store i went to! in the meantime i found a way to get my fix from mac's darker metallic "nightfall" and a bluish-gray l.a. girl polish i got from urban outfitters for only $5 (also sold at forever 21).

i was excited when i first learned of the gray polish trend because i had already been using sephora's wet & dry pale gray eye shadow for a while to line my lids. i had always heard purple tones make green eyes really pop, but since using this product i noticed that gray has the same effect.

gray is also good when i'm stuck in an outfit and neither black or brown quite matches...which is why i purchased this puffy jill stewart handbag that gets me through at least half of the days in a week. there are some great stone-colored chloe handbags on bluefly.com if you'd like to get one of your own, but if you're not sure you want to throw down $1,000 or even a few hundred like me, old navy and target have a few good picks.


lastly, here is a way i found to incorporate gray into my spring outfit. mixed with white checkers and subtle pink lines, this shirtdress from forever 21's new heritage line is perfect by day with gray or pink opaque footless tights and sandals, or by night with my washed out gray jeans (of course!), silver heels and dressed up accessories.


what do you think...can gray be a spring/summer color or is it strictly for winter? how would you wear it?