Hey!
We have another Beauty Bomb from Danielle, the Style and Beauty Doctor!

She gives you MAC devotees the 411 on how to choose the best MAC eyeshadows for your skin tone. Read on for tips!

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MAC Eyeshadows have had a cult following ever since the brand emerged in the 1980s. A visit to the MAC counter or store (or if you live close to one, the PRO store *gasp*) leaves even the most conservative wild with awe at all the drool-worthy shades of eye shadows in 132 colors. What I love most about MAC is that I can walk in there with a posse of multi-cultural hotties and all of us can walk out with makeup to suit our varying skin tones. I also love the pigments and color payoff I get from their eye shadows and the fact that when compared to other department store brands, I don’t have to sell off my firstborn child to be able to afford it.

Now let’s get into some eyeshadow fun…

The Style and Beauty Doctor’s Quick Eyeshadow Tips:
1. Use an eyeshadow base (I love MAC Paints and Urban Decay Primer Potion) to make sure your eyeshadow shows up as vivid as it looks in its case and so that it lasts all day. Use a base (like MAC Paints or Paint Pot) in a shade closest to your skin tone for everyday eye looks. Use one close to your eyeshadow color for some serious color-payoff.

2. Don’t be scared of matte eyeshadows—although they may not catch your eye as quickly as their shimmery cousins, they help to define and shape the eyes. Plus they look great in the crease and they’re perfect for a maturing eye.

3. Speaking of shimmer, go easy on it if you’re having your photo taken. While pretty in person, shimmer can sometimes read as “greasy” in a photo.

4. Don’t forget you need a highlight shade. A highlight shade is either a very light gold or silver eyeshadow applied under the brow bone. You can also use an eyeshadow 2-3 shades lighter than your skintone as a highlighter. The point of the highlight is to help frame the eye and finish your eye look. Avoid using a single wash of a non-neutral color that extends all the way to the brow bone or risk looking like a makeup amateur.

Find the celeb pictured below whose skin tone is closest to yours. I’ve listed a few shade suggestions under each picture. Keep in mind that you can wear any hue, but it must be in agreement with your undertone and intensity (bright or muted). To make sense of undertones, check out Foundation 101.

Use this guide to take away some of the anxiety you can feel from looking at the over 132 colors in MAC’s collection.

Rihanna

Daytime: Soft Brown, Charcoal Brown, Grain, Bamboo, Bronze
Evening/for fun: Expensive Pink, Da Bling, Twinks, Parfait Amour, Shimmermoss, Amber Lights

Tyra Banks

Daytime: Charcoal Brown, Wedge, Woodwinked, Cork, Tempting, Bamboo
Evening/for fun: Hepcat, Parfait Amour, Amber Lights, Steamy, Humid

Nia Long

Daytime: Sable, Espresso, Twinks, Satin Taupe, Handwritten, Mulch
Evening/for fun: Beauty Marked, Contrast, Purple Haze, Nocturnelle, Humid

Kelly Rowland

Daytime: Twinks, Soft Brown, Corduroy, Swiss Chocolate, Mulch
Evening/for fun: Knight Devine, Purple Haze, Star Violet, Humid, Nocturnelle, Contrast, Beauty Marked

Alek Wek

Jennifer Lopez

Rosario Dawson

Daytime: Omega, Soba, Wedge, Charcoal Brown, Arena, Cork, Romp
Evening/for fun: Sable, Beauty Marked, Nocturnelle, Bronze, Sumptuous Olive, Humid, Hepcat, Nocturnelle, Plum Dressing, Cranberry

Zhang Ziyi

Daytime: Orb, Malt, Vanilla, Grain, Omega
Evening/for fun: Crystal Avalance, Knight Devine, Black Tied, Beauty Marked, Silver Ring, Electra, Idol Eyes

Lucy Liu

Daytime: Orb, Malt, Vanilla, Grain, Omega, Soft Brown
Evening/for fun: Mystery, Parfait Amour, Shadowy Lady, Print, Purple Haze, Contrast

Freida Pinto

Daytime: Soft Brown, Bamboo, Charcoal Brown, Era, Cork, Soba
Evening/for fun: Nocturnelle, Hepcat, Cranberry, Stars N’ Rockets, Sushi Flower, Beauty Marked, Naval, Purple Haze

Lakshmi Menon

Daytime: Charcoal Brown, Soft Brown, Mystery, Grain, Soba, Bamboo, Bronze
Evening/for fun: Hepcat, Cranberry, Parfait Amour, Nehru, Plumage, Sketch, Blackberry

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Wow, here I am thinking all you need is Amber Lights and Honeylust!
What are some of your fave MAC Eyeshadows?

Celebrity stylist June Ambrose is the creative mind behind the flawless looks of Diddy, Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott, Ciara, Mariah Carey, Ne-Yo, Jay-Z, and more! When she hits the town, she goes for tailored looks, favoring blazers, belted shifts, and chic skirts, most always worn with a pair of fabulous oversized shades and platform pumps:

Channel her style with these:

Hey!
So after a year of living in Paris (can you believe it’s been a year?!?), I’ve finally started to venture out onto the retail landscape looking for cool boutiques and items. While walking along the fashionable Rue de Bretagne in the 3rd arrondissement, I was drawn to the window display of a shop called Blank:

What most caught my attention were the cool Kanye West and Michael Jackson t-shirt and sweatshirt:

So I had to go in and inquire!

The friendly shopkeeper told me the shirts were made by a French company called Hype Means Nothing (www.hypemeansnothing.com), that places their signature ‘finger sunglasses’ on celebrities like Will Smith, Pharrell, Beyonce, and more:

I was about to charge a Bey tee to the game, but had to stop short when the clerk told me t-shirts were 55 Euro ($83) and Sweatshirts were 75 Euro ($112). Yikes! The tees are cool, but definitely not an ‘of the moment’ purchase. Had to hold off on that one.

While I contemplated spending $80 on a tee, I took a look around the rest of the store, which boasted lots of lovely shoes by brands like Cristina Milioti, Gaspard Yurkievich, and Atelier Voisin:

And mens sneakers by le Coq Sportif and Puma:

The shoes were similarly high priced, ranging from 145 – 300 Euro ($217-$450). That exchange rate will get ya!

But if you’re looking to splurge on a few fun items and t-shirts, visit Blank at 7 Rue de Bretagne (01 42 74 83 89)…then walk down to Café Charlot and have a kir!

To purchase Hype Means Nothing tees online, visit their website www.hypemeansnothing.com and purchase at www.buymeansnothing.com.

Will you be indulging?

Smootches!

Jay-Z recently performed in London wearing Rockstar Denim’s biker jeans in black:

Retailing for $209, you can find the easy style at Bloomingdales or www.emoda.com.

Hey!
So I was over at one of my fave blogs, Stuff Fly People Like, and happened upon this pic of a Jordan sneaker cum heel:

This industrious fashionista found a way to make a street staple into a stiletto!

The snapshot made me think of the myriad celebrities who have rocked the sneaker heel for casual sporting events:

Something about the look always makes me go hmm….

What do you think?

Our favorite fashionista Rihanna recently hit up the Alexa Chung show in Alexander McQueen’s $1,665 Asymmetric Stripe Sweater Dress and Gray Ant Status Wayfarers:

Homegirl certainly doesn’t have a problem splurging does she?
Get her dress plus a lower priced alternative here:

The newest accessories craze? Stacked watches!

Blogs like Jak & Jil and Stockholm Street Style have snapped fashionistas wearing multiple watches at once, piling on both gold and silver tickers with bracelets and cuffs:

You’ll never have a problem telling the time, and the look allows you to creatively mix metallics for even more fashionable versatility.

You can get the look by wearing watches, like these from Guess, Gc, or Marc Ecko ($180-$575), one on top of the other:

Or get the look for less by mixing and matching these fun time keepers:

Will you be trying this trend?

Today Swagger Paris brings us a shot of Harmony, a Parisian fashionista who works at French store The Kooples (www.thekooples.com):

The young diva is wearing Kooples from head to toe, accented by a fly spiky hairstyle and open toe shoe boots. Love!

Haven’t heard of the Kooples?

The consummate Parisian one stop shop, the Kooples features lots of well made rock-and-roll pieces, mostly in black, with fun embellishments and sequins thrown in for fun:

They use actual couples in their advertisements, which offers the brand an authentically chic vibe:

And offer tons of jackets, t-shirts, and pants for men and women:

I personally love the designs, but buyer beware: they’re a tad on the expensive side ($200 skirts, $500 blazers, $100 t-shirts), and when I visited the store in the Marais, the biggest size they carried was an 8.
If you can survive the sticker shock and tiny sizes, visit The Kooples online at www.thekooples.com, or also check out their locations if you’re ever in Paris.
Until then, what do you think of Harmony’s Kooples outfit?
Smootches!
PS Swagger Paris just relaunched! Check ’em out at www.swaggerparis.com.

Hey Guys!

So I was super excited to ask my mom to participate in Vintage Fab because I knew she was a fashion diva back in the day (and still is!). She learned to sew from my grandfather who owned his own menswear shop in the Bahamas for 50 years, then went on to graduate from New York City’s High School for Fashion Industries. She made cute dresses, plaid suits, and tops for me when I was a teen, and has always had her own subtle take on style! So of course when I asked her to participate in Vintage Fab, she delivered. Check her out:

Wearing a flowy yellow dress for a summer day in Brooklyn

Rocking a Pucci cutout bathing suit and jeans for a cookout in 1976. That’s my grandmother and my aunt sitting down next to her.

Drinks with friends in a silk floral halter top

At a dance in 1976 with my aunts Andrea (middle) and Maxine (right).

Woot for Mamma Fashion Bomb! Of course I’m biased, but isn’t she lovely? Ah, if only I had a smidgen of her fabness!

If you guys have anyone in your life who would qualify for Vintage Fab, get to scanning. We can’t wait to see! Send your pix to thefashionbomb@gmail.com.

Smootches!

Zigi Soho Zink Platform Pump’s are the perfect shoes to take you from the office to the happy hour:

Edgy yet feminine, the $60 affordable peep toes boast a beautiful flower on a fierce double platform. Mix and match with these work separates for a stylish ensemble: