Though our days of trick-or-treating are long gone, we still love Halloween for the chill in the air, jack-o’-lanterns and, of course, the occasional spooky story. Following are three of our favorite reads of the season — an atypical ghost story, a vampire’s tale and a mystery surrounding a grand English manor — perfect for curling up with this time of year.
We’ve noticed grocery stores and farm stands are now brimming with apples — and not just your basic Red Delicious and Granny Smith. American fruit farmers grow more than 2,500 of the 7,500 apple varieties in the world, according to the U.S. Apple Association, including Ginger Gold and Honeycrisp (our favorite). But with so many apples to choose from, how do you know which ones to bake and which ones to simply eat out of hand?
If we could trade places with any TV host, we’d want to be 39-year-old Padma Lakshmi. A co-founder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America, she’s smart, gorgeous and, as the host of Bravo’s Top Chef, she gets to eat fabulous food for a living. “I’m an omnivore. I have a great curiosity about food,” she tells us. “Food makes me happy, which is why I’m very well equipped to do the job that I do.”
We recently filled you in on some of our favorite beauty products benefiting breast-cancer charities. To kick off the week, we’re highlighting fitness companies that have pledged to do their part. Here are eight more ways to shop pink — and contribute to finding a cure!
We associate L’Occitane with our sense of smell, since the retailer specializes in fragrances, as well as natural beauty products. Preventing vision loss, however, is at the heart of the company’s United to Save Sight campaign. Every year since 2006, L’Occitane has created a limited-edition product and donated 100 percent of the proceeds to charity. This year, profits from the Moments in Africa Soaps ($8), a set of three depicting scenes from African life, go to ORBIS, a
nonprofit dedicated to preventing and treating avoidable blindness around the globe.
We recently attended the cocktail reception at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City for the 2009 Alzheimer’s Association Rita Hayworth Gala, taking place Oct. 27 at the Waldorf-Astoria. In attendance was the Hollywood legend’s daughter Princess Yasmin Aga Khan. She launched the galas in 1985 in honor of her mother, who died from the disease in 1987, and since their inception the galas have raised more than $53 million for the Alzheimer’s Association.
While searching for beauty products that benefit breast-cancer awareness causes, we came across Pristine Beauty natural skin and hair products, created by Blaire Kessler. The former model was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 31 in 2005. “I could not find any products out on the market for the issues I was having with my hair and skin that were 100 percent truly natural and that were effective,” Kessler says. “So I made my own after tons of research.”
It can be one of the more confusing aspects of exercising: Figuring out how hard you should be working in order to reap optimum health benefits. After all, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend getting a minimum of 150 minutes a week of “moderate intensity” physical activity (plus two strength-training sessions a week), but what does that really mean? Researchers at San Diego State University have determined a more illuminating answer: walking about 100 steps per minute.
When life gets busy, we often find ourselves reaching for the same go-to outfits — and consequently feel the specter of a style rut (all black again?). To help us bust out of our funk, we recently spoke with Lloyd Boston, author of Before You Put That On (Atria, 2005) and host of the Fine Living Network special Style at Any Age and Closet Cases. “Staying current and being age-appropriate can work beautifully together if you know how to do it,” Boston reassures us.
We’ve been meaning to update our head shot for the last couple of years, so we were thrilled when we heard that Estée Lauder would be hosting “Your Beauty. Your Style. Your Profile,” a free makeover event with complimentary photos. It sounded like the perfect opportunity — and a great excuse to check out the newly remodeled cosmetics department at Bloomingdale’s Manhattan location!
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