This Moroccan-style dinner, held at the Beverly Wilshire to celebrate "Sex and the City 2," featured décor from Mosaik.

We skipped a recent screening of Sex and the City 2 to attend a poolside dinner party at the Beverly Wilshire Beverly Hills hotel to celebrate the movie’s release instead. (We know — how very L.A. of us!) So, in lieu of a movie review, we’re sharing some of the great tips we picked up at the event:

1. Invite envy: Our invitation arrived via Paperless Post, an online stationery service that allows you to send elegant personalized invitations virtually. With all the options you’d find at a fine stationers — including engraved-looking type and calligraphy — the 18-month-old service has been used by everyone from Condoleezza Rice to Zac Posen, and we were smitten at the first click (when our name showed up on the outer envelope). “Stamps” are sold on a sliding scale: $4 for 20, $10 for 150, $15 for 300, making this a very inexpensive, Earth-friendly way to send save-the-dates, birth announcements, thank-you notes, moving announcements, even wedding invites.
2. Morocco calling: “A Moroccan-style dinner under the stars” was the theme of the night (parts of SATC 2 were shot in Morocco, standing in for Abu Dhabi). While we’ll never be able to replicate the gorgeous poolside setting at home, we plan to borrow some of the fetching tableware touches, including fuchsia silk table runners; pink, blue and green Moroccan tea glasses for serving fresh mint tea, and the surprise of macaroons and baklava presented in tagine cooking vessels. Much of this Moroccan décor was rented from a nearby Moroccan décor store called Mosaik (the whole catalog is available online).
3. Fast dinner idea: Highlights of the menu included a fava bean and mint baba ghanoush and a spectacular couscous with pine nuts, dried cranberries and parsley. We asked Four Seasons executive chef Gilles Arzur for the couscous recipe, and it turns out to be extremely flexible. Basically, cook the couscous according to the directions on the package, allow to cool, and then add whatever diced fruits and vegetables you like. At the end, add chopped parsley, a few squeezes of fresh lemon juice and a sprinkling of ground cumin.
4. Healthy glow: Celebrity makeup artist Christopher Drummond gave mini-makeovers with his new eponymous mineral makeup line that will be available at the The Spa at Beverly Wilshire. Drummond used to work for Bare Escentuals and he knows both what women love about mineral makeup and what they don’t (its tendency to settle in fine lines and pores). His line leaves out the clogging, drying ingredients — titanium dioxide, bismuth oxychloride and zinc oxide — and adds antioxidants, plant extracts and botanicals to create creamlike powders that can be applied without all that buffing and swirling. We were skeptical when Drummond dipped his vegan brush into apricot blush, a color we’d been told doesn’t complement our medium-fair skin with its yellow undertones. “Apricot is a combination of pink and orange,” Drummond insisted, “so it works on almost everyone.” He was right; the shade really did add instant radiance to our complexion and the slight shimmer to the formula imparted a flattering glow, like we were gazing at our lover across a candlelit table (pardon our gushing, but we love this product!). For the next best thing to a one-on-one consult with Drummond himself, visit the website’s virtual makeover page, upload a photo of yourself and then see which products and colors look best on you.

Do you buy makeup online? Or do you prefer to sample products in person before you purchase?

Tags: Abu Dhabi, Africa, Algerian cuisine, Beverly Wilshire Beverly Hills, Beverly Wilshire Beverly Hills hotel, Celebrity, Celebrity makeup artist, Christopher Drummond, Condoleezza Rice, Couscous, Cuisine, Epcot, Gilles Arzur, Hospitality/Recreation, Los Angeles, makeup artist, Mediterranean cuisine, Moroccan cuisine, Moroccan tea culture, Morocco, online stationery service, Seasons executive chef, Sex and the City 2, Tajine, The Spa, Touareg tea, Tunisian cuisine, USD