FSB Presents: The Ultimate Last Minute Gift Guide

Honey, it's December 24th and what are you doing? Trying to come up with a gift? Oh, we've got trouble right here in your city and it starts with a capital "T" which rhymes with "C" and that stands for Christmas. What are you going to do now?

Fear not, dear readers. I'm here to save your proverbial bacon with presents that can be purchased in total last-minute style that will have them thinking you spent all sorts of time on the situation. Grab a glass of eggnog and a seat on the bus, 'cause I'm about to take you to school.

Who wouldn't appreciate a massage or spa treatment? This is practically a layup: get them a Bliss Virtual E-Card. With multiple locations around the country and an online store chock full of products that we all covet within an inch of our lives, this little present not only can be purchased (and redeemed) online, they can email the certificate to the recipient. As in, delivered instantly. Feel free to use the "well-I-wanted-to-time-it-just-right" excuse.

What about for the men in your life? How about a Bottlenotes Wine Club subscription? Each month fabulous new bottles of wine will arrive at his home in the spirit and varietals mentioned for the individual subscription. I mean, what guy doesn't like to flaunt his knowledge of obscure varietals to others? Print the email confirmation and put it in a card or wrap it around a bottle of wine like a label and put it under the tree.

If you live near a Target, there isn't a person alive that wouldn't die for a gift card from the super retailer. I'm on my way to a Target in Charleston, WV this weekend (which is where I'm from, actually) and I plan on raiding whatever's left of the Rodarte for Go International collection with the one I received from a relative. Housewares, electronics, beauty, office supplies - anything that feels like free money in a store with such goodness is a joy to receive. Head to their Customer Service desk and load one up.

What if you're in the middle of nowhere and the only thing on the way to Grandma's house is a grocery store? Desperate times call for desperate measures and here's hopin' that she likes to gamble because at times like these nothing says I love you like a fist full of lottery tickets and a bottle of wine. You're laughing now but I've seen this gift work in some of the most posh of situations. Lottery tickets bring out the inner nickel slot slut in all of us, admit it.

Other instant gifts? Netflix memberships and restaurant gift certificates are all amazing gifts that can be purchased right this minute and given today.

Another good idea? Make a difference in the world. Donate money in their name to a worthy charity, like Charity: Water, an organization that ensures clean drinking water to the billion or so individuals on our planet who don't have access to the one thing we probably take for granted the most.

What if you have no money and no time? Seriously, I have been there. This is where having a computer comes in handy. Make your own gift certificates for services you can supply throughout the year, redeemable only to the person whose name is on it. Massages, house cleaning, rides to the mall, foot massages, whatever you can volunteer, print them and give them as your gift. It's really the thought that counts and it's important to remember that.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Shopping Destination: Mackage Soho Pop-Up Store

I'm obsessed with the designer outerwear goods of Mackage. I'm definitely a little more rock and roll lately and the cutting-edge styles from Eron Elfasy and Elisa Dahan are some of my favorites, like this impossibly chic Maggie Leather Jacket ($620).

From buttery-soft leather to slimming sub-zero puffer jackets, Mackage is a line worth investigating (and investing in a few pieces, if I do say so myself.) The designing duo has opened a pop-up boutique at 148 Spring Street in Soho here in my beloved NYC and they still maintain their other boutique in the Meatpacking District, so stop into either location and peruse the finery.

Can't make it to NYC just yet? Mackage goods are sold online via their official website. So hit this amazing outerwear company and get yourself a little something for being such a good girl this year. After all, you deserve it!

Holiday Beauty: The Pampermint Pedicure

After racing from one end of the city to another working, events, epic levels of Christmas shopping and the holiday party circuit, my feet were freaking killing me. You know what I mean, that aching, murderous pain where you want to just take your feet off and put them somewhere. Well, my little overworked heel-loving maven, I need to tell you about the fabulous Pampermint Manicures and Pedicures at Eve Salon here in NYC.

Available through January 31st, the Pampermint Manicure ($20) and Pampermint Pedicure ($40) are fabulous winter treatments exclusive to Eve. Each service is 45 minutes of sheer bliss where your technician uses peppermint oil-infused products to revitalize tired muscle tissue, soothe your skin and calm your anxious mind. In addition to a vigorous and mind-blowing peppermint sugar scrub, you'll receive a massage that will have you melting into the chair and a steaming hot cup of all natural hot cocoa, which comes with a shot of peppermint schnapps if you so desire.

So if you wonder what's the cause of my shiny disposition (and my sparkling red pedicure), I'll confess to my new personal favorite holiday treatment. An amazing gift idea or just something lovely to ease your worried mind and body, book these fabulous treatments by calling 212.807.8054.

Then cool your heels with a little peppermint lovin' and let the pampering begin.

Holiday Gift Guide: Presents for the Beauty Lover

Nothing is more beautiful to a beauty lover than a whole stocking full of fabulous products. Here are some fabulous ideas for the makeup and skincare lover in your life:

Every woman needs dazzling makeup brushes in her life. This glamorous Sonia Kashuk Twist of Fate Six-Piece Brush Set ($19.99) are of the most amazing quality and they come in their own slee, jet-bejeweled case. Perfect for touch-ups during a night on the town and you can zip over to your local Target and pick it up, like, right now.

One of the coolest things to come around in a really long time, Stila's The Makeup Player Train Case (on sale for $69.90) is a makeup case and instructional all-in-one. The makeup case comes with some of Stila's greatest products and a dock for your MP3 player. Download the instructional videos to help perfect your look or simply kick up some tunes while you get ready. This is the ultimate gift for any makeup loving woman and it's got FREE SHIPPING if you order it now. It's a $250 value so if you don't take advantage of this gift idea, there's no helping you, really.

The perfect stocking stuffer, get the LORAC Star Style Set ($25.00), which contains a full-sized aquaPRIME oil-free makeup primer, On Screen Duo Powder Highlighter & Cream Eye Shadow/Liner in Fame and Fortune, a miniature deluxe TANtalizer Baked Bronzer for face and body, and a Starry Eyed Baked Eye Shadow Trio in Star Style, all in a gilded gold makeup bag. This set is valued at $108 and it's also a real deal, so get this in time for Christmas morning by ordering now.

For the lipstick lover in you (or, if you must give it away, some other lipstick-loving maven), get the M.A.C. House of Mirth Deep Lip Bag ($36), which features Fantasia Lipstick, Cedar Lip Pencil and Get Rich Quick Dazzleglass in a stylish, silvery little makeup bag with a festive ribbon and bead detail on the zipper. If you're gifting this to someone else, let me put it to you this way: there isn't a woman on the planet who wears makeup that wouldn't want this.

Last but not least, you'll need something to wet your whistle for mistletoe incidents. Huge Lips, Skinny Hips Lipgloss in Red Sole ($25) is the sexiest red lip gloss out there and it'll plump your kisser while keeping you from diving head first into the buffet table. A great gift for anyone and be sure to pick up one for yourself.

Have a beautiful holiday!

Holiday Gift Guide: Beautiful, Sexy Lingerie

Baby, it's cold outside and there's nothing that heats things up faster than sexy, beautiful lingerie. Whether you purchase these items for yourself or for a beautiful woman in your life, it's so true that nothing is sexier than confidence, which any woman should have in spades after donning these amazing lingerie ideas.

I love lacy underthings and this Kiki de Montparnasse Lucretia Bra ($195) and Ravished Garter Panty ($175) are beyond supersexy. Strut around in this outfit and you'll move differently. Trust.

Keep a medic on speed dial if you walk out in this Agent Provacateur Love Basque ($370). Better yet, make sure that you treat this outfit like an amusement park ride - whoever sees you in this has to be free from all neck, back and heart conditions.

Slightly more demure but no less alluring is this Victoria's Secret Ruffle Babydoll ($58). I have a hard time believing you'll be getting a lot of sleep in this one.

Where are my curvy girls? Got you covered, honey. This supersexy and flirty Betsey Johnson Intimates Chiffon Babydoll with Matching G-String Panty ($58.99) goes up to a size 2x. Work it, ladies!

Since you're bound to get a little closer with all this lace-clad lack of clothing, might I suggest you come prepared for the situation? The Lush Bewitched Massage Bar ($11.45), which the company claims is about as close to a love potion as you're bound to get. It contains essential oils like violet leaf (restores friendly bonds), lime oil (gets rid of apathy) and chamomile(helps one to forget the past).

Lock the doors and turn off the phones, kids. With these lingerie picks that can be ordered in time for Christmas if you hurry, you're bound to heat up the holiday.

Exciting News! Follow Me on Twitter For Robert Verdi's Holiday Twitter Event at Luxe Lab Thursday Night!

I think it's pretty easy to guess with all my coverage that I love me some Robert Verdi. He's given tons of great advice to you, my fabulous FSB readers and tomorrow night (that would be Thursday, December 17th at 6:45 pm ET SHARP) I'm going back to the Luxe Lab to get the scoop on the celebrity stylist/jewelry designer/interior designer/media gadfly's picks for holiday gifts!

Now, here's something fun for you: I'll be tweeting live from the event, so if you're not following me on Twitter, please do so at @fashionstbeauty. Why? Here are three major reasons:

1) You'll have an opportunity to ask Robert questions and have them answered live on Twitter.

2) Robert is really generous and does giveaways to those who follow these tweets during events and I have it on good authority that tomorrow has some epic giveaways to followers from companies like Ugg and Vintage Shoe Company. Hello?!? Who's going to turn down free swag from a celebrity stylist. Not I, said the cute little blogger.

3) Because it'll be hilarious fun!

Want to get a jump on the giveaways already? If you tweet "“I wanna win @robertverdi 's holiday shoe picks from Ugg Australia & Vintage Shoe Co! (insert your shoe size) #rvtips”, you'll be entered to win some FREE SHOES, LADIES!


So, what do you do?


1) Follow me on Twitter: @fashionstbeauty


2) Tweet that message above to get a jump on the giveaways


3) Grab a cocktail and follow hashtag #rvtips to get all the amazing news and scoop from inside the event. Trust me, his parties get really fun REALLY FAST, so expect some hilarious stuff to be flying around the Twittersphere.


So follow me on Twitter and join me tomorrow at 6:45 pm ET SHARP for a Twitter party with Robert Verdi and a slew of other fashion and beauty bloggers to get the inside scoop from the mad style genius himself. See you tomorrow!

Holiday Gift Guide: Books for the Stylish Woman

As someone who dearly loves fashion, style and beauty (hence the name of the site – no accidents here), I find myself constantly amassing a sizable library of  tomes on these subjects both for reference and for inspiration.  It’s my opinion that these types of books make brilliant gifts for both the fashionable and the fashion-challenged, just make sure that if you’re gifting the latter with this well-meaning set of books that you set the tone appropriately, lest you get the cold shoulder this holiday season…and I don’t mean the cutout detail top. Here are some of my picks for stylish books:

How-to Style Guides: I have three in this category that I think are always excellent gifts. I recommend Nina Garcia’s The Style Strategy: A Less-Is-More Approach to Staying Chic and Shopping Smart (It Books, 2009) for her style aesthetic and personal anecdotes. I personally believe that Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style (Abrams Image, 2007) is a must-have that every woman should have in her library both for practical advice and Gunn’s frank and tender manner when imparting wardrobe advice. Lastly, Rachel Zoe’s Style A-to-Zoe: The Art of Fashion, Beauty and Everything Glamour (Grand Central Publishing, 2008) is a great look at the stylist’s fabulous taste and inspires you to create your own looks from her ideas.

Inspirational Photo/Style Books: There are two you must own right this minute. Get WhoWhatWear: Celebrity And Runway Style for Real Life (Abrams Image, 2009), which is a collection of advice and photos from the ladies who run this genius style site, Hillary Kerr and Katherine Power; and The Sartorialist (Penguin, 2009), which is a collection of blogger/photographer Scott Schuman’s street chic-inspired photography. Both inspire and inform on levels I can’t begin to describe.

Beauty Books: There are thousands of books out there on how to get your best face but I recommend Sonia Kashuk’s Real Beauty (Clarkson Potter, 2003)- and having met her, I can tell you that this book is what it would be like to speak with her – genius at work; either of legendary makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin’s books, Making Faces and Face Forward (Little, Brown and Company, 1999 and 2001, respectively) and Bobbi Brown’s Makeup Manual: For Anyone Beginner to Pro (Springboard Press, 2008). Any of these books will provide expert guidance and instruction you can follow quite easily to look your best.

These books will delight the stylish, the stylishly interested and the style challenged alike. Although, trust me, if the latter truly has no interest in dressing well, throwing the book at them (literally, not figuratively) will make no difference. Bestow these books on someone who will love and cherish them.

Holiday Gift Guide: Presents for the Gadget-Obssesed

Ok, we're off and running for the holidays and we're focusing on people who are just kind of hard to buy for, especially if you know them well (people you don't know so well? that's why the good Lord let us invent gift cards as far as I'm concerned). This guide focuses on the gadget nut. Everyone knows one. You know, the person who camps out for the release of the newest phone, has the baddest computer on the block and scoffs at you if you don't understand how to operate FourSquare? What to get your favorite gadget geek? Read on...

We are ALL attached to our phones and while everyone is raving about the iPhone and the Droid, have you heard of Windows Phones? Oh yeah!Windows phones have tons of features when it comes to voice and Web (Facebook, FourSquare, Twitter, browser, voice, 3G, etc) and when it comes to the fabulous fashionista in your life, uber designers like Rock & Republic and Diane Von Furstenberg designed custom themes for these phones. I'm partial to the HTC Imagio (Verizon - $199 with 2-yr contract and $100 online discount), which features a 3.6 inch touch screen and 5 mega-pixel camera with auto-focus in addition to the fabulousness I listed previously. Seriously, check it out!

What about the information junkie in your life? The one attached to Wikipedia for every little question, like "Who breathes air?" Get your information overloader a WikiReader, a gadget from famed industrial designer Thomas Meyerhoffer, that brings all of the information from Wikipedia and all of its content to anyone, anywhere on the globe without needing an internet connection. 3 simple buttons, 3 million topics, and two standard AAA batteries (included) will power the device for about one year of  normal usage. This is perfect for students or, you know, info geeks like me.

If you've got a camera nut on your gift list, you have to get them the genius camera that I use for FSB: the Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera ($179.95). Forget whatever handheld video camera you have: this little gadget takes up to 10 hours of HD 1080 quality video with brilliant sound as well as still photography. I recorded all of the YouTube videos from Fashion Week on this camera and it's pure genius.

If you have an audiophile in your midst, there are three last gadgets I have to tell you about. First of all, you've already heard me raving about my AudioChi W-5 Headphones ($109.95) and I will never be without them again in life. Since my iPod is about to die (it's old, people), it's time to go ahead and upgrade to an iPod Touch ($199), which will house my music and video library as well as pitch hit as a computer if I need to check email or surf the web. But as someone who likes to crank my music up to levels that make my neighbors slightly mental, the top of my own personal gift list this year is the Geneva M Sound System ($699), which has a iPod dock, a CD slot as well as FM radio and crisp, beautiful Geneva sound. 

And if these gifts don't work, a gift certificate to Best Buy should get you a nod and the title of "righteous one" for at least another year. :)

Coach Holiday Gift Guide

Welcome to the holiday season, with all of its sparkle and shopping opportunities. I must say that I loooooove shopping for gifts. No, seriously, don't look at me like that. It provides an opportunity to lose one's mind in a store without feeling like people are judging you too harshly. I love it.

I'm starting the gift guides off with a bang in our inaugural year with America's legendary luxury goods brand, Coach.  Have you been in a store lately? Coach is THE place to get accessories for yourself and others this holiday season. As you're making your list and checking it twice, here are some must-have items from one of my favorite brands:

The Social Gadfly: We all know the girl who always seems to have the most jam-packed social life. Get your favorite girl-about-town something as sparking as her personality, like this fabulous Poppy Metallic Wristlet ($58.)

 
The Classically Tailored Friend/Mom/Mother-In-Law: For the woman who looks so put together she most likely irons her jeans, there's only one fabulous tote worthy of such impeccable attention to detail: the Kristin Zip Top Tote ($698).

The Gossip Girl: Whether she's running for coffee to discuss Brangelina's latest rumors or she's trying to decide which headband she might wear while ruling the world, this is someone who needs something stylish but timeless. The Madison Sabrina Bag ($358) will do nicely for her.

The Fashionista: She's got every major boutique on speed dial and a million women would kill for her wardrobe. She needs a bag that can help her manage her front row lifestyle in a glamorous manner, which is why she needs this dazzling Leopard Sequins Large Claire ($1,200)

So head to your local Coach retailer or their website to get your holiday shop on. Oh, did I mention that I'm going to be giving one of these fabulous bags away? Mmmhmm. Details coming soon.

With all of these amazing bags and accessories for holiday and the clothing collection scheduled to show this February at Fashion Week, I am swooning over Coach and I'm sure you know a little someone this holiday season who would feel the same way about these fabulous bags. Onward to shopping, you gift giver, you!

Holiday Gift Idea: Crumbs Cupcakes

When I was a kid, one of the best presents I remember getting every year had to do with food. Other than a fruitcake that can double as a doorstop, I'm into any gift that allows people to get together and eat. Popcorn tins are so last...decade. How about sending a little lovin' from the oven that will REALLY have them raving for years? Ladies and gentlemen, if you want to collect your award for The Best Gift This Season, send cupcakes from Crumbs Bake Shop.

An institution in NYC and Los Angeles that sends many of us squealing into any gathering like tweens at a Jonas Brothers concert when they arrive, Crumbs cupcakes are some of the most amazing confections that have ever been allowed to be created on Planet Earth. I mean, you could send basic vanilla and chocolate and still have them screaming with delight, but let me just throw some of the flavors from these oversized drops of joy: Chocolate Covered Strawberry, Caramel Apple (my personal favorite), Cookie Dough, Chocolate Pecan Pie, Fluffernutter, Oreo (as in the real cookies), Peanut Butter Cup (again, with real peanut butter cups on top) and so many more I don't have room in this post. I get giddy walking past the store every day and to know that I can share this love with you across the country, my friends? I weep with happiness.

You can create your own custom Six Pack of these delicious cupcakes and they will ship your little box of heaven on dry ice anywhere in the country, where the darling confections will thaw in 3-4 hrs after being removed from their travel vessel. Afterwards, I suggest you try not to break your arm patting yourself on the back after all the amazing "Thank You" cards, phone calls and offers to bear your children start pouring in.

Send them wherever you want this holiday season or, Hell, send a box to yourself. It's been a rough year and we all deserve a little treat this season. No matter what the occasion, there's always one amazing gift solution that can be delivered with the click of a mouse: Crumbs cupcakes.