Polish up

This summer has saturated everything with color and the best part is that mix and match is definitely in. Since recessionista fashion loves the cheap accessory, I offer up the suggestion that you make nail polish your bling investment for the season. (Plus you're saving on the salon visits if you DIY.)


The beautiful jewel tones in coral, turquoise and royal blue take some careful coordinating to make sure you don't take on a 'Tuncan Sam' look. But if you have a little more time on your hands (ahem, recently unemployed friends), you can try on the whole rainbow on hand at a time.

Various celebs have been spotted sporting the ring finger painted in a complimentary color, but lately some have taken it a step further.

While we all know The Hills/City girls seem to exist in a self-tanner-induced fashion world of their own, their style is undeniable. (You can't run your fingers through your hair without running into an LC side braid.) The paint swatch look has great potential - in my opinion.

Try it in subtle shades at first. Bring back the plumy purple that was the shade this past winter, only soften it into shades from lavender to lilac to mauve. Tone down that electric yellow with a sunny range from tangerine to butter. And translate the nude trend into a polish pallet of beige with tones in pink, gray and tan.

OPI has a great collection with subtle steps between colors. If you don't want to shell out $9 apiece for five nearly-identical polishes, try the $4.50 options at Icing or, better yet, mix your own.

Get the beach look

Just in time for the start of 'staycation' season, Remington has come out with the perfect gadget for homemade beachy waves. The Spin Curl is a hairdryer that twists sections of your hair as it dries it, leaving you with a tousled, bed-head look.

According to an interview with the Daily Mail, British hairdresser Brian Coombes, 32, went through several designs before the simplest idea, in the form of a plastic cup prototype attached sideways on the end of a hairdryer, proved to be the most effective.

The hair is placed into the tube and whipped about by hot air from the dryer, and swirls around itself, creating ringlets that can then be tousled into natural-looking waves.

Mr Coombes said: "Whenever anyone sees it they are amazed it hasn't been thought of before.

"It really is quite a simple design and it doesn't damage the hair like straighteners which can be used to curl too. It just gives it a nice, soft look."


Using this device looks just as time-consuming as straightening your hair, but you give off the impression that you just rolled out of bed. There's another beauty conundrum.

I can't help but notice that if you were to leave you hair at step 3, you'd have a lovely head of dreadlocks. I bet Hot Topic would hardly be able to keep them stocked.

The Spin Curl doesn't appear to be sold in stores in the US, but is already marked down online.

The One-Run Dress

It's the antithesis of the LBD. It's the Little Sea Green, Ruched Gauze Overlay, Fake Rhinestone Detailing On The Train Dress (or LSGRGOFRDOTTD for short). Or maybe it's a Little Burgundy Dress from that wedding a few years ago that no longer fits. These dresses are beautiful in their own right, but just can't seem to make it out of the back of your closet.

With prom/graduation season coming to an end and wedding season just beginning, I think it's the perfect time to save you a little closet space and put those one hit wonders to good use - and a good cause.
There are several organizations in the area that take lightly worn dresses and donate them to girls who might not otherwise have the means to splurge on a one-time-wear gown.



The Formal Dress Project and a volunteer project by University of Delaware's Spirit Ambassadors both hold prom dress drives.

Men's formal wear is also welcomed, so, gentlemen, take advantage of this legitimate excuse for why you can't get dressed up for the family reunion.

Fashion to die for

The first in a litany of fashion catch-22s, skinny jeans have the potential to give you that long lean look of an adolescent fashion model, but also exponentially increase you chance of having a muffin top, oh yeah, and “tingling thigh syndrome.”

Before you get excited, this is actually a nerve condition called meralgia paresthetica, occurring when constant pressure — in this case, from the skin-tight denim — cuts off the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve, causing a numb, tingling or burning sensation along the thigh.

An MSNBC article found one such fashion victim: 28-year-old Parmeeta Ghoman.

When she wore a pair of super-tight skinny jeans to dinner with friends in December, she noticed an odd tingly sensation running up and down her thighs. And when she got up to walk around, things got weirder. She felt like she was almost "floating," because she couldn't feel her legs. “It felt really strange — it felt like my leg had gone to sleep,” Ghoman says.

Not to cast your favorite stovepipe jeans in a dark light, but this nerve condition usually afflicts construction workers or police officers with heavy, low-slung belts, pregnant women or obese people. Young women of a healthy weight who complain of symptoms should look to their closet for the culprit.

"It can take some time for it to dissipate weeks or months even sometimes, if the damage is extensive,"says Dr. Orly Avitzur, a neurologist at Yale University.

A WebMD article reveals that nerve damage isn't the only risk you take wedging yourself into those skin-tight pants.

"Yeast, being a fungus, grows where it's warm and moist. If you have clothing that's tight-fitting and won't allow air circulation, that's where the problem is," says Josephine Von Herzen, MD, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Salem Hospital in Salem, Ore., and a spokeswoman for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Tight garments also cause rubbing and irritation, she adds. "That can be pretty uncomfortable."

What's the phrase? Right, beauty hurts. Maybe jeggings are worth a try.