Update on the non-knock-off Marc Jacobs bag

It's a loser.

The bag is too squashy (hey, I like soft, touchable leather as much as the next girl, but this thing feels like an elephant's foreskin) the strap is too short, the outside pockets are too big, and the lining is too loud. It's black fabric with "MARC JACOBS" in giant white letters.

Oh, and the top does not close with a zipper, but a magnetic clasp, which is a deal-breaker, So the search for a

black
tote bag
with a zipper top
and outside pockets for my cell phone and iPod

continues.

Pink and Green Libertines

Here's a first peek at the new line Libertine is producing for Target. It will hit the stores in July.

I don't know about you, but I'm not crazy about argyle. It has such a broadening effect, don't you know. Also ... skulls? On my chest? To provide conclusive evidence that my hooters actually are as big as my head?

I don't think so.

But some of the pieces look cute, and you young, lithe girls might like them.

More pictures here. Scroll down--there's a cute LBD; an adorable black tiered skirt ... the collection is worth a look. Just say no to the argyle skulls, OK?

Review: Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle Serum, Intensive

OK, inspired by my pal Badger, I've decided to become a reviewer.

Today's review is for Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle Serum, Intensive. Yes, that's "Intensive," which I guess means this product was designed to be used by an aging Shar-Pei like me. (So if you're under 37 years old, don't bother. Go off and battle acne or something--come back and talk to me in a few years.)

Brief digression: I can't believe how great drugstore skincare has gotten in the past few years. I mean, when I was a kid it was all 1006 Lotion and Pacquin Hand Cream and Jergen's Lotion, but now companies like Neutrogena, ROC, L'Oreal, and Oil of Olay are constantly coming out with truly ground-breaking products.

So anyway, this serum. I tried it because a serum I've used for a couple of years seems to have disappeared from the stores. So I figured I needed to try something new. Even though I don't have a lot of skin problems and have always been basically pretty happy with mine, aside from that whole aging thing. Also, a friend of mine said she was using a Retinol-containing product from Neutrogena, and her skin really looked brighter and better when she used it.

So when I saw this serum, I went for it. Like Oil of Olay's Regenerist Daily Regenerating Serum, a dimethicone-based product that pretty much started the whole thick, oil-free-yet-creamy serum fad, the Neutrogena product pumps out a pea-sized blob of something thicker than water and thinner than cream. You put it all over your face ... and if you read the fine print, you do it once a day, under moisturizer. Not twice a day. Because that might make you peel.

Which it did.

But that's good! Peeling means a retinol product is working. And it wasn't full-on Renova-style peeling; just a touch of flakiness near my mouth.

As for other results, I can't say that I look better. On the other hand, I don't look worse. I'm not breaking out; it's great under makeup; and that peeling thing convinces me that it's gently nudging my tired old epidermis along.

So buy it. And use it once a day, so you don't peel.

The knock off of a knock off, and other adventures

Hello, internet!

OK, yeah, I signed on to the compact, where I agree not to buy anything for a year. And I have managed pretty well, for a recovering shopoholic. Which leaves me with not much to blog about over here. Hence my lack of posts.

But then my purse was stolen. Containing everything important in my life, except, thank goodness, my cell phone and filofax. So the good news is if you were already a friend of mine and I had your number, I can still call you.

The bad news is that I am now missing the following: a big black tote bag, a combination checkbook/wallet, my prescription sunglasses, various credit cards, cash, my driver's license, and my passport, which I stupidly had with me.

So while my first order of business was to notify banks, credit agencies, and the government about my loss, my second order of business was to stop living with a phantom limb--that bag that I kept reaching for--which wasn't there.

Now the original bag was this:
a $25 dollar cheapie from Target. Except in black. It was a knock-off of a Marc Jacobs design. I liked the outside pockets for my keys and cell phone, and was big enough to carry music folders or hold my laptop. It also zipped shut, so I could stow it under the seat in front of me when I was on an airplane without worrying that my wallet or a crucially important lipstick would fall out and roll away.

The replacement, ironically enough, is this:


a real Marc by Marc Jacobs bag from Neiman Marcus.

Now, why would someone who was cheap enough to buy the fake bag pop for the real thing? Because inexpensive trend-driven stores like Target aren't selling black bags right now. They're selling summery stuff. But I want my black bag back, and I want it right now.

Also, if I buy another cheap bag, I'm letting the thieves win.

So I got the original instead of the faux.