My Latest Score: The J. Crew Cape
I’m sure you saw this coming if you read my blog, but I ordered this cape. Just think of all the possibilities — I mean, check out the chic pea from Ohh Couture above (full outfit details)! Those shoes are RIGHTEOUS and way too bold for me but I like the layering she has going on…and THAT BAG. GAH. I might also need this chunky knit…
You’re Sooooo Popular: Chanel Perfume
The most popular items on Le Blog this week:
+The latest and greatest scent from Chanel.
+This chic dress (on sale!)
+VERY on-trend shoes. THE VELVET BOW!!!
+One of my favorite bedtime books for mini.
+A great sweater dress at a great price in perfect autumnal colors.
+The shoes at the top of my lust list RN. These less expensive ones nail the look well, though!
+One of my favorite sources for smocked clothing for mini.
+A lot of you are going to look VERY SOHO CHIC RIGHT NOW thanks to these.
#Turbothot: The Lip Curl
Brace yourself for the world’s weirdest, most specific, most random turbothot (actually, more of a microthot — let’s be real):
Baring my soul here and sharing an inane but deep-rooted pet peeve of mine: I hate that beach read type books tend to use the same stiff, plastic, unimaginative language. It all feels played out, recycled, utilitarian — “Let’s get the point across, Eddie, but let’s not get creative with it. We’ll aim for lowest common denominator here.”
(Who is Eddie?)
I mean, I get it. I can’t be expecting Hermes craftsmanship in a bag from Target — but some of the diction is idiosyncratically manufactured, as if all of the heads of the big publishing houses (Eddie among them, apparently) got together and conjured up a “chick lit glossary” of acceptable phrases and terms.
High on this would-be glossary is the curiously over-used phrase “so-and-so’s lip curled in anger.” The old lip curl. (Trust me — now that I point it out, you’ll notice it as a favored descriptor of villains and villainesses in pop-lit. Thanks to me, you won’t be able to ignore it for the rest of your life. Sorry.) What the hell is a lip curl? I don’t believe I’ve ever seen someone curl her lips in real life. If they mean sneer — well, that’s pretty damn rare, too, and why can’t we just use the more onomatopoeiac of the two?!
Every time I come across the phrase, I pause and strenuously attempt to imagine what the character’s face might look like with curled lips. Are we talking Pink or Katie Holmes’s mildly lop-sided lips, or do I not understand the physical mechanics of a lip curl? I just…I don’t get it. It’s gotten to the point that I circle the phrase in books and immediately discredit the author (wild and judge-y, I know — but hey! I’m reading Amanda Hesser’s Cooking for Mr. Latte, and she doesn’t exactly shy away from letting her snob flag fly, so maybe I’m feeling reckless tonight).
Setting aside a failure to use the serial comma, the lip curl might be my most hated of stylistic foibles.
#Shopaholic: The Tibi Dress.
+Now that this went on sale, I’m convinced I need it.
+DYING over this retro-styled intarsia sweater!
+If you haven’t gotten your fix yet — loving this marigold-colored sweatshirt.
+Just ordered this coat for minimagpie.
+Like the Hermes blanket, but far less expensive and with your own damn initial on it, too!