VIV Extras

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Giveaways

Win a Darby Scott Amber Bib Necklace
One lucky winner will receive a Darby Scott necklace set with two strands of dark amber petals (a $450 value!).

Playlists

Reba McEntire Revs Up With Trainer Risa Sheppard
As featured in the November/December 2009 issue of VIVmag, Pilates maven Risa Sheppard has been training “The Queen

Recipes

Nancy Silverton's Family-Style Antipasto Salad
This quick, simple dish was adapted from one of Silverton's favorite recipes.

Beauty Archive

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November 10th, 2009

Tabatha Coffey on Hair Dos and Don’ts

Back in the ’90s, we once sported a haircut similar to reality star Kate Gosselin’s — and considering tart-tongued scissor wizard Tabatha Coffey’s take on the style, we know we made the right decision to grow it out. Coffey, formerly of Shear Genius fame, recently landed her own show on Bravo, Tabatha’s Salon Takeover, which airs Tuesdays at 10 pm. The Australian-born hairstylist, 43, gave us some great tips for maintaining our current ‘do.

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We firmly believe in beauty recipes that have been handed down through generations, especially when they produce natural skin-care products that are economical — and that sound delicious. Return to Beauty: Old-World Recipes for Great Radiant Skin (Atria, 2009) from skin-care expert Narine Nikogosian contains formulas for moisturizers, toners, eye creams and face masks made from simple, fresh ingredients such as avocado, egg, yogurt, olive oil, mango and orange. Nikogosian — whose celebrity clients include Charlize Theron, Ellen DeGeneres and Alfre Woodard — also divulges some of her family’s beauty secrets.

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October 26th, 2009

L’Occitane Launches Moments in Africa Soaps

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.

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October 22nd, 2009

Breast-Cancer Survivor Creates Pristine Beauty

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.”

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October 19th, 2009

Estée Lauder Offers Free Head-Shot Service

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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According to an American Cancer Society report, breast-cancer deaths in the United States have decreased about 2 percent every year since 1990. We believe that heightened awareness of the importance of early detection is partially to credit. During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, many beauty companies highlight products that donate to breast-cancer research and education groups. Click “full article” to see some of our favorites!

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When we first sampled the three new Life Threads fragrances from La Prairie, we were sure that Silver was our favorite. The next day, we reconsidered; perhaps we preferred Gold or Platinum? Upon learning more about the scents, which debut this month, we realized that we’re not indecisive — just complex. Each scent represents a different aspect of a woman, whose experiences are like threads woven together to form a tapestry. The bottles display a literal interpretation: Each one is bound with threads corresponding to the contents.

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September 28th, 2009

Michael Kors Very Hollywood Brings Back a Classic

Our mother’s extensive jewelry collection included several solid-perfume rings that she purchased from Avon in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As a little girl, we were fascinated with the way the jewel top unclasped to reveal the fragrance hidden inside. So when we discovered that Michael Kors would be offering his new fragrance, Very Hollywood, in a solid-perfume cocktail ring ($40) at Sephora, we instantly wanted one. That was even before we were captivated by the subtly sexy scent — classic glamour of old Hollywood captured in a bottle. (Or a ring.)

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August 25th, 2009

Artists Interpret M.A.C’s Fall Palettes

Whenever our artist friends drop by, no piece of art goes unexamined, from a favorite quirky painting to a modern wire piece. Even functional art, such as our glazed ceramic cat bowls, don’t escape their notice. Artists seem to see the world differently, creatively processing the shapes, colors and textures of their surroundings. So it made sense that M.A.C (aka Make-Up Art Cosmetics) tapped the visions of three artists — illustrator Maira Kalman, painter Richard Phillips and photographer Marilyn Minter — and asked them to create works inspired by the company’s fall ’09 collection.

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August 18th, 2009

New Odacité Skin-Care Line Features Fridge

The spanking-new Odacité skin-care line includes a familiar list of products — cleanser, moisturizer, serum, masque, body lotion, eye cream, exfoliant — plus a couple that are a bit unusual (paper-thin facial sponges, a purse atomizer that comes with a tiny funnel for filling it with Rose Floral Water) and one beauty product we’ve never come across before: a mini fridge. Kind of like a wine cellar for skin care, the sleek unit ($120) keeps the products at an optimal 54–59° F, or approximately 20 degrees above the temperature of your kitchen fridge.

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