Bonjour blogsphere!
Today, I want to start off by saying I really and truly have the perfect husband. Case in point, this weekend, I went to Printemps with a friend to cruise the very end of the sales. As my wardrobe is bursting through the seams with pretty little dresses (I have a collection which would be the envy of many a Stepford Wife), I resisted the temptation to browse the dregs of clothing, but fell prey to the temptress known as the shoe section. Jimmy Choo just happened to have TWO beautiful pairs of shoes (last pairs, in my size!)- a fabulous pair of stiletto bootie sandals in black with bronze gromits and a classic pair of deep red patent leather mary janes (with stiletto, of course!). How could a girl possibly choose between two such amazing pairs which were on SALE FOR HALF PRICE?! It was the classic conundrum- did I need the unique and slightly trendy booties (keep in mind that EVERYONE is showing booties this fall), or did I want the classic/never out of style perfect red shoes? As we are saving to purchase an apartment, I couldn't decide which pair of shoes I could live without. So, I called my husband. He laughed and told me to GET BOTH, if it makes me happy, and that we could more than afford it. How perfect of a man is he?
Meanwhile, I've been possessed by all kinds of cleaning demons, which I will use as an excuse for my lack of recent postings. As we live on the ground floor, and France windows have bars instead of screens, I had the unfortunate experience of watching a cockroach come in through the window. Somewhere between screaming profusely, attacking the miscreant with heavy duty hairspray (in lieu of bug spray) and watching the roach succumb to the fumes of the hairspray, I made the resolution to further clean our cozy apartment (as well as coat the window bars with roach spray on a regular basis so none of those horrible pest will try to come in). It's been good, as my mania has inspired my husband and I to clean out our drawers and closets...
Lapin a la Mode Tip du Jour
So. I've been lacking in the sleep department again, probably due to nightmares related to the roach sighting. One trick for getting tired, red eyes to look brighter is to use a blue eyeliner, especially inside the lower lashline. My personal favorite is Lancome's black lapis Le Crayon Khol as it is relatively waterproof and an amazing shade.
Click of French Culture
Most of France goes on vacation during the month of August, so like the world of fashion, the year pretty much begins in September. In France, workers legally get at least five weeks of vacation along with scads of holidays, so many people actually take the entire month of August off (or a massive portion of it). France also has a 35 hour work-week, with no overtime allowed for many positions (including mine). For those of us who work more than our 35 hours, we accrue some additional vacation in lieu of overtime pay. For an interesting article on the subject, click here.
A bientot!
-Liz Anne
Showing posts with label summer sales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer sales. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Steamy Summer Soldes
Good morning blogsphere!
It is another hot, steamy day in lovely Paris and the sales are about to hit their second week. While most of the good couture is gone at this point, there is still the deuxieme demarque to look forward to! :-) Either the buyers planned better or the economy is picking up, because this set of sales did not see nearly the amount of discounted couture available that I was able to snag this winter. Or maybe I just have good taste, because it seemed that the dress I'd been debating about from Maje and the scrumptious velvet Chanel sandals I could not justify paying full price for (after having bought a pair of Chanel white wedges and my Dior wedding shoes in the past month) had both sold through before the sales. My main win was the two pairs of Tod's ballerinas I was able to grab after waiting patiently for nearly an hour to actually get into the store. My shopping partner did score big with a beautiful pair of Prada snakeskin sandals, and we were both able to pick up some cute summer dresses at Derby. Good times. I look forward to hitting up Printemps and Lafayette after the next round of markdowns... :-)
Lapin a la Mode Tip du Jour:
Summertime equals pool time; and if you enjoy taking a quick dip in the pool for some refreshment from the heat, you know that you will be faced with one of hair's greatest enemies: chlorine! As a blonde who adores floating lazily around a pool for entire afternoons, I've had to battle with brittle, dry hair afterwards. One of the best solutions to the problem is to wet your hair in the shower before you hop in the pool. If your hair is already wet, it will not absorb as much of the chlorinated water. If your hair does get dry and damaged, try a conditioning mask. I have used Borghese's Fango Active Mud for Hair for years. I also recently tried Matrix Sleek.Look Miracle Reconstructor which is more of a hard core conditioner than a hair mask, but I was also pleased with the results. (I love the Sleek.Look shampoo and conditioner so much that whenever family or friends come to visit from the US, I implore them to bring the economy size bottles for me!)
Click of French Culture:
When it comes to weddings, the French love to party until dawn. My American guests were quite amazed by the number of people still going strong on the dance floor at 4 am. At dawn, it is traditional to serve the remaining guests onion soup before they head to bed- a great way to finish an entire day of celebrating! The tradition apparently started long ago, when the bride and the groom would leave the wedding party (leaving everyone else to dance and drink) to consummate their marriage. After an appropriate amount of time, the partiers would arrive with a massive pot of onion soup to wake up the bride and groom. Afterwards, the remaining revellers would come to finish the soup. Today, the bride and the groom party with the guests and retire after the onion soup. Jonesing for your own bowl of onion soup? Try this recipe.
A bientot, readers!
-Liz Anne
It is another hot, steamy day in lovely Paris and the sales are about to hit their second week. While most of the good couture is gone at this point, there is still the deuxieme demarque to look forward to! :-) Either the buyers planned better or the economy is picking up, because this set of sales did not see nearly the amount of discounted couture available that I was able to snag this winter. Or maybe I just have good taste, because it seemed that the dress I'd been debating about from Maje and the scrumptious velvet Chanel sandals I could not justify paying full price for (after having bought a pair of Chanel white wedges and my Dior wedding shoes in the past month) had both sold through before the sales. My main win was the two pairs of Tod's ballerinas I was able to grab after waiting patiently for nearly an hour to actually get into the store. My shopping partner did score big with a beautiful pair of Prada snakeskin sandals, and we were both able to pick up some cute summer dresses at Derby. Good times. I look forward to hitting up Printemps and Lafayette after the next round of markdowns... :-)
Lapin a la Mode Tip du Jour:
Summertime equals pool time; and if you enjoy taking a quick dip in the pool for some refreshment from the heat, you know that you will be faced with one of hair's greatest enemies: chlorine! As a blonde who adores floating lazily around a pool for entire afternoons, I've had to battle with brittle, dry hair afterwards. One of the best solutions to the problem is to wet your hair in the shower before you hop in the pool. If your hair is already wet, it will not absorb as much of the chlorinated water. If your hair does get dry and damaged, try a conditioning mask. I have used Borghese's Fango Active Mud for Hair for years. I also recently tried Matrix Sleek.Look Miracle Reconstructor which is more of a hard core conditioner than a hair mask, but I was also pleased with the results. (I love the Sleek.Look shampoo and conditioner so much that whenever family or friends come to visit from the US, I implore them to bring the economy size bottles for me!)
Click of French Culture:
When it comes to weddings, the French love to party until dawn. My American guests were quite amazed by the number of people still going strong on the dance floor at 4 am. At dawn, it is traditional to serve the remaining guests onion soup before they head to bed- a great way to finish an entire day of celebrating! The tradition apparently started long ago, when the bride and the groom would leave the wedding party (leaving everyone else to dance and drink) to consummate their marriage. After an appropriate amount of time, the partiers would arrive with a massive pot of onion soup to wake up the bride and groom. Afterwards, the remaining revellers would come to finish the soup. Today, the bride and the groom party with the guests and retire after the onion soup. Jonesing for your own bowl of onion soup? Try this recipe.
A bientot, readers!
-Liz Anne
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Bienvenue and Welcome!
Bonjour blogsphere,
Lapin a la Mode kicks off today! And what could be a more appropriate topic than the upcoming SOLDES! As of today, there are just 22 days until the summer sales commence in Paris. Have you planned your shopping route yet?
For those of you are not familiar with the French sales (there's still time to book tickets!), there are no words that can fully describe this bi-annual bargain-fest. Unlike the US, where many stores have a different sale every week, in France there are two major sales per year- one in late June/July, and one in January/February. During this period, EVERYTHING goes on sale, starting from 30% and dropping down to 70% off or more. Keep in mind that 30-50% off of a Chanel handbag equates to a lot of money. Traditionally, there are three sets of mark-downs as the sales progress. Usually couture is done after the first mark, but the best deals are during the second mark. Due to the economic crisis, the sales are proported to incredible this summer... although, I was in Hermes on Saturday and business was BOOMING... If this summer's sales are anything like the winter sales...
Anyway, I'm in the preshopping phase for the sales and am determining my plan d'attaque. I have the good fortune of a very short walk from the two biggest department stores in Paris, Printemps and La Galleries Lafayette as well as Rue Royale and Place Vendome. As I will have a few sales virgins with me, I'm still debating whether to hit up the complete chaos that will be the department stores Wednesday, or if I should hit up the shops around Rue Royale/Rue Faubourg Saint-Honore, which will be slightly less crowded and have a higher proportion of true fashionistas to the tourist bargain hunters. The main benefit of the department stores is that you have a lot of brands all in one store; however, the reality is that almost all the high fashion lines I want to hit up are strategically positioned on or near Rue Faubourg Saint-Honore... The only drawback to Rue Royale/Faubourg Saint Honore is that the stores are much more spread out than in the department stores.... I'm not wild about hitting up the Champs Elysees for two reasons: it will be packed with tourists and there are not many good brands to speak of (although it does have an AMAZING Sephora)... Hmmm.... Readers, what are your thoughts? Where will you be starting the sales?
Lapin a la Mode Tip du Jour:
Summer is here! Whether you're bronzing in the sun or starting a self-tanner regime, tans develop much quicker if you've properly exfoliated! Exfoliating regularly also gives your skin a much more even tone as well as boosted radiance- making you look even better in the more revealing clothing of summer! My personal favorite body exfoliator is Exfoliant Fraichelle from Lancome- it smells divine and is very effective at sloughing off the remains of your dull winter skin. I also am a fan of The Body Shop's Brazil Nut Body Scrub.
Click of French Culture:
I have to admit, I'm a huge French music fan. For your enjoyment, I present a current hit: Bob Sinclair's La La Song and the disco classic Dalida's Laissez Moi Danser which I guarantee will get your head bopping!
A bientot readers...
-Liz Anne
Lapin a la Mode kicks off today! And what could be a more appropriate topic than the upcoming SOLDES! As of today, there are just 22 days until the summer sales commence in Paris. Have you planned your shopping route yet?
For those of you are not familiar with the French sales (there's still time to book tickets!), there are no words that can fully describe this bi-annual bargain-fest. Unlike the US, where many stores have a different sale every week, in France there are two major sales per year- one in late June/July, and one in January/February. During this period, EVERYTHING goes on sale, starting from 30% and dropping down to 70% off or more. Keep in mind that 30-50% off of a Chanel handbag equates to a lot of money. Traditionally, there are three sets of mark-downs as the sales progress. Usually couture is done after the first mark, but the best deals are during the second mark. Due to the economic crisis, the sales are proported to incredible this summer... although, I was in Hermes on Saturday and business was BOOMING... If this summer's sales are anything like the winter sales...
Anyway, I'm in the preshopping phase for the sales and am determining my plan d'attaque. I have the good fortune of a very short walk from the two biggest department stores in Paris, Printemps and La Galleries Lafayette as well as Rue Royale and Place Vendome. As I will have a few sales virgins with me, I'm still debating whether to hit up the complete chaos that will be the department stores Wednesday, or if I should hit up the shops around Rue Royale/Rue Faubourg Saint-Honore, which will be slightly less crowded and have a higher proportion of true fashionistas to the tourist bargain hunters. The main benefit of the department stores is that you have a lot of brands all in one store; however, the reality is that almost all the high fashion lines I want to hit up are strategically positioned on or near Rue Faubourg Saint-Honore... The only drawback to Rue Royale/Faubourg Saint Honore is that the stores are much more spread out than in the department stores.... I'm not wild about hitting up the Champs Elysees for two reasons: it will be packed with tourists and there are not many good brands to speak of (although it does have an AMAZING Sephora)... Hmmm.... Readers, what are your thoughts? Where will you be starting the sales?
Lapin a la Mode Tip du Jour:
Summer is here! Whether you're bronzing in the sun or starting a self-tanner regime, tans develop much quicker if you've properly exfoliated! Exfoliating regularly also gives your skin a much more even tone as well as boosted radiance- making you look even better in the more revealing clothing of summer! My personal favorite body exfoliator is Exfoliant Fraichelle from Lancome- it smells divine and is very effective at sloughing off the remains of your dull winter skin. I also am a fan of The Body Shop's Brazil Nut Body Scrub.
Click of French Culture:
I have to admit, I'm a huge French music fan. For your enjoyment, I present a current hit: Bob Sinclair's La La Song and the disco classic Dalida's Laissez Moi Danser which I guarantee will get your head bopping!
A bientot readers...
-Liz Anne
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